KC Royals: Ben Zobrist Names Daughter ‘Blaise Royal Zobrist’

The daughter of the Kansas City Royals’ second baseman throughout its World Series title run is now a Royal herself.

The KC Royals and Ben Zobrist enjoyed a nice run there after the trade deadline, but now Zobrist can turn undivided attention to his newborn daughter – who will be a Royal a lot longer than her father was.

Zobrist and wife, Julianna, announced the birth of their daughter Blaise Royal Zobrist yesterday, according to ESPN.com, in presumably a tribute or connection to the franchise he joined midseason.

It was thought Zobrist might miss a playoff game if the timing hadn’t worked out, but thankfully for the Kansas City Royals, he never had to make that decision.

Zobrist joined the Royals midseason and appeared in 59 regular season games for the World Champions. He did what he’s done his whole career:

He was a .284/.364/.453 hitter for the Royals in the regular season, he hit 16 doubles, seven home runs and he owned a 30/29 K/BB rate.

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Zobrist was exactly what the Royals hoped he’d be when they traded pitching prospect Sean Manaea to the Oakland Athletics to land Zobrist in late July. He was a gun-for-hire, and a versatile one. He provided the Royals some much-needed plate discipline, a switch-hitting presence and he was as consistent as any Royals player down the stretch.

In 16 playoff games this season, Zobrist batted .303/.365/.515. He had 20 hits in 66 at-bats. He struck out just six times.

There’s plenty of speculation regarding Zobrist’s future now that he will hit the free agent market. You figure lots of teams will be interested in his services, so the Royals would need to be aggressive to bring him back in 2016. Otherwise, he’s off to the next stop.

ESPN‘s Andrew Marchand says that stop could come for the New York Yankees. He had some high praise for Zobrist:

"This guy is a pro’s pro. Zobrist is a winning ballplayer. Anyone who watched him in Tampa Bay knows that. He is the type of player who maybe doesn’t have the greatest numbers in the world, but who you would want up in a big spot in October, even if his .751 postseason OPS (in 132 at-bats) isn’t that special."

He probably won’t play for a better team than he did this season, though.

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No matter where Zobrist ends up, his daughter will always carry a piece of Kansas City with her. Whether his daughter grows up to be a Kansas City Royals fan or not, I have a feeling she’s welcome at Kauffman Stadium any time she wants.