Fantasy Baseball: Kansas City Royals Studs, Breakouts, and Sleepers
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Last year, the Kansas City Royals hit gold with some of their starting pitcher signings. They need repeated results to be a factor in the AL Central in 2025, along with their young breakout and sleeper hitters playing up to their potential.
Deep Sleeper: Jonathan India, Kansas City Royals
The Royals need a leadoff hitter, giving India an excellent opportunity to hit in front of Bobby Witt. Kansas City plans on giving him playing time in the outfield, helping his ability to stay in the lineup more often. The downgrade in his home ballpark is a factor in his power expectations. The Royals stole 89 fewer bases than the Reds last season. India is a nice, steady player with some upside if given over 500 at-bats again in 2025. For a fantasy team cheating second base, his bat does make sense for some team structures.
Sleeper: Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals
The addition of Jonathan India may block Garcia from batting first or second in the Royals lineup. His lack of walks does hurt his potential leadoff profile at this point in his career, but he does have the speed to help Kansas City score runs. With an improved swing path, Garcia hits the ball hard enough to have a breakthrough season down the road in power, something I don’t see in Brice Turang, Luis Arraez, and Nico Hoerner.
A possible .270 season with 75 runs, 15 home runs, 65 RBIs, and 40+ steals if he hits down in the lineup. His runs should push over 90 if given a leadoff opportunity with 550 at-bats. I view him as value at second base with breakout upside. His profile is a much better fit at second base than third base in 5 X 5 Roto Formats.
Breakout: Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals
I viewed Pasquantino as a potential breakout player at first base over the past two seasons. Unfortunately, I haven’t been paid off. The fantasy snob (a story for a different day) in me wants to triple down on him in 2025, and he does hit one-off in the batting order from the sensational Bobby Witt.
A year removed from shoulder surgery should help his power swing. I see a .290/90/30/110/5 player with a push to the 15% range with his HR/FB rate (he reached that level in the minors). Giddy up; the Pasquantino train will be in the express lane in 2025.
Breakout: Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals
After having TJ surgery in 2018, Ragans disappeared from baseball over the next three years due to his recovery, and no minor league games were played in 2020. His progression with the Royals (16-11 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.124 WHIP, and 312 strikeouts over 258.0) paints an exciting ace pitcher.
He led the American League in strikeouts per nine (10.8) last season. Once Ragans solves left-handed batters and improves his command, he’ll reach difference-maker status. In 2025, it’s time to ride him to fantasy championships.
Foundation Stud: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
The arrival of Witt is here, and there are multiple areas where he can improve his production. His sprint speed (30.5) has been the best in the majors in back-to-back seasons, suggesting 50+ stolen bases if he wants to run more. Once Witt solves lefties in the power department, he should hit 40+ home runs. His one concern is his RBI chances (never higher than 370), giving him a weaker RBI opportunity than the best-run producers in baseball.
His growth in RBIs requires a better leadoff hitter or a drop to third in the batting order. He also had a much higher HR/FB rate (19.3) in the minors in 2021. His qualification (SS), a 40/40 season on the horizon, with an edge in runs, RBIs, and batting average point to a player with the tools to outperform Shohei Ohtani in 2025.
Witt took a pitch to his left forearm on March 12th, giving the fantasy market a scare. His injury appears to be minor while having enough time to be healthy for opening day.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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