KC Royals: Five Key Offensive Players For 2015 Season

Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain – Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

5) Lorenzo Cain, CF

According to the Royals’ MLB.com page, Manager Ned Yost indicated Lorenzo Cain would be hitting third in the line-up. While Cain’s numbers batting third in 2014 were pretty good, his career stats there are not so great.

In 33 career regular season games batting third, according to Baseball-Reference, Cain has hit in the three-hole in 33 games. His slash is less than impressive in that slot in the line-up – .262/.324/.338/.663. He has two home runs, 14 RBI, and 31 strikeouts.

When he was placed in the third spot last season, for the last two weeks and the post season, he did step up. In 14 regular season games last year in the third slot, his slash was pretty good – .321/.367/.429/.795. He still isn’t much of a power hitter, knocking out just for extra base hits in 60 plate appearances.

Cain really caught his manager’s attention in the playoffs. While batting third, he produced a sparkling slash of .333/.388.417/.805. Again, in 68 plate appearances, Cain had just five extra base hits, all doubles.

Cain’s Slash Stats Hitting Third

• 33 career games – .262/.324/.338/.663
• 14 games in 2014 – .321/.367/.429/.795
• 15 games in the post season – .333/.388.417/.805

Cain seems to be growing as a hitter. That is all for the good. Still, some of his numbers are inflated by an extremely high Batting Average on Balls in Play. In 2014, his BABiP was .380, 56 points higher than his number going into the season.

This number was propped up by Cain’s 24 infield hits. While speed is a part of his game, Cain did not have more than ten infield hits in a season before 2014, according to FanGraghs.com.

If Cain is going the number three hitter for the KC Royals, he needs to hit a few more extra base hits, and be more of a run producer. He doesn’t necessarily need to become a home hitter, an unreasonable expectation, but more gap power would be nice.

Was last September and October a mirage as far as Lorenzo Cain is concerned? Was this more of a case of Cain getting hot at the right time, and it was mere coincidence that in coincided with his move the third spot in the line-up? Or has Cain made the next necessary progression toward becoming a better hitter?

The Royals need the last statement to be the true. They will also need more power and more RBI from Lorenzo Cain if he is going to remain the number three hitter.

Next: A New DH