KC Royals: Five Reasons The Royals Will Repeat
By Scott Dillon
The Royals have depth out the wazoo.
The Royals leaned on their depth heavily in the 2015 campaign and could be even deeper this season.
Last season the Royals found success in reclamation projects like Ryan Madson and Chris Young. They’ll try and compound that in 2016 and so far the results look promising.
The Royals are without closer Greg Holland, but they have the best reliever in baseball working the ninth inning. He may not lead the league in reliever strikeouts, but there is no question that Wade Davis is the best.
Even without Greg Holland, the Royals have a four-headed monster out of the bullpen. Wade Davis, Luke Hochevar, Kelvin Herrera, and Joakim Soria combine for a foursome of pitchers that could all close for another team.
Chien-Ming Wang and Dillon Gee also look good and could make an impact for the Royals out of the pen or as spot starters during the season. Danny Duffy is also headed to the pen where his career numbers look good enough to close, even with a small sample size.
Kyle Zimmer, Miguel Almonte, and Brian Duensing all offer more options for the Royals from the Minor Leagues. They also have Brian Flynn who looked very promising last season. Bottom line: The Royals have a ton of pitching depth even though their rotation may not look solid.
Jarrod Dyson went out for the first two weeks of the regular season before Spring Training really got underway. Okay, it was barely underway.
Reymond Fuentes stepped up his game big time and may have even earned the opening day start over Paulo Orlando.
Whit Merrifield also had a strong camp and can play in right field along with options like Orlando, Travis Snider, Jose Martinez, Brett Eibner, and eventually Jarrod Dyson.
Merrifield also plays infield and could backup any of the infield positions outside of catcher. They also have proven backups in Chelsor Cuthbert and Christian Colon. Even Raul Mondesi showed flashes of his potential in Spring Training. Bottom line: The Royals have a deep, deep bench.
In a long season, depth can make or break a baseball team (I’m talking to you Detroit).
Next: Core Values