KC Royals: Projecting The 2016 Starting Lineup

Batting Second

There are three options in my mind that would fit in this role. First, I should state that this is all based on what I think, or maybe hope, will happen in Spring Training.

Alex Gordon makes sense in this role. He’s not a big power hitter, but can hit home runs from time to time. He doesn’t have a lot of at bats in the second spot in the lineup, but does hit well in his career in this position. With just over 100 at-bats, he has a slash line of .349/.425/.538. It’s his best slash line from anywhere in the lineup.

Mike Moustakas is another candidate to hit in the two-hole. He exploded out of the second spot in 2015 showing that he had finally learned how to hit to all fields. He opened the season with an opposite field home run, the first of his career, and 105 of his hits were either up the middle or to the opposite side. He also doesn’t strike out a ton and walks a fair amount for a Royals’ player.

Christian Colon is the other candidate to fill this spot in my mind. This is contingent first on him being named a starter over Omar Infante. Colon is a pesky hitter. He is good at making contact, has the bat skills to move the runner over if need be, can hit to all fields, and is fairly patient at the plate. He doesn’t swing at a lot of bad pitches, and the more attempts he gets the better he is going to become.

While all of these players are good options, I see Alex Gordon as the number two hitter for the Royals. I really like Colon in this spot, but Gordon hasn’t hit well historically out of the sixth spot and is probably making too much money to fall to the eighth spot. Aside from that, seeing Alex Gordon with more at-bats isn’t a bad thing.

Royals’ opening day second hitter: Alex Gordon

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