KC Royals: Five Key Offensive Players For 2015 Season
By Joel Wagler
Kansas City Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales (25) – Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
4) Kendrys Morales, DH
It remains to be seen if Kansas City Royals General Manager misjudged the market for departed designated hitter, Billy Butler, or if he made an astute evaluation of Butler’s future. Moore replaced Butler with a seemingly similar hitter.
Kendrys Morales will be the new DH in Kansas City. A big plus in Morales’ favor is the fact he is a switch hitter. Whether or not Morales’ 2014 was an outlier, or was due to his missing Spring Training and the first two months of the season, the Royals need Morales to be closer to his 2012-2013 numbers than to what he produced in 2014.
He averages 30 doubles, 22.5 Home Runs, 76 Runs Batted In, and 145 games in 2012 and 2013. Last season, his numbers plummeted. In just 98 games, he had eight homers, 42 RBI, and 20 doubles. He went from maintaining a .275 average, to an awful .218 average in 2014.
If the DH can return to his production levels prior to last year, he will become an important cog in the Royals’ offense. If last year was the beginning of a downward trend, then Kansas City will be in a bit of trouble.
There is a good chance that Morales will be the Royals top home run hitter this season. Even discounting his outlying career high of 34 in 2009, which was six seasons, and a major ankle injury ago, it is not unreasonable to expect 20-25 round trippers in 2015, which could very well be the best total for any Royal.
Best case scenario is for Morales to match his numbers in 2012 and 2013, and for him to have the second or third highest home run totals on the team. That will mean one or more of the career underachievers on this roster stepped up their game.
If Kendrys Morales doesn’t bounce back, the KC Royals will be scrambling to find help for their offense.
Morales isn’t going to be the type of hitter to carry an offense for a long stretch of games, but he can be a very good piece in an improved line-up. His performance in 2015 could very well dictate the success the Royals have.
Next: Post Season Carry Over?