Kansas City Royals: A Look Back at Preseason Predictions

; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Lineup (Preseason): Nori Aoki, Omar Infante, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar
Lineup (Postseason): Escobar, Aoki, Cain, Hosmer, Butler, Gordon, Perez, Infante, Moustakas

Preseason Grade: B

Much like the regular season as a whole, this lineup had its ups and downs. Their hot streaks were very hot, and their cold streaks were very cold.

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The obvious surprise out of this bunch was Lorenzo Cain. Cain had the best batting average out of everyone on the starting lineup. Escobar and Aoki also had solid years.

Now to the disappointing: Billy Butler. I’m sure I’ll get criticized for this because of his huge fan support, but an American League team needs more than nine home runs out of their designated hitter.

While it’s sad to see him go, I think the Royals could have and will be much more successful with a power hitter in the clean-up role.

Overall, I can’t be too critical of the lineup. They finished 4th in team batting average, but they only finished 14th in runs scored. The Royals did a good job of getting on base, but needed to get those runs across the plate.

Postseason Grade: B