KC Royals Need Lorenzo Cain To Get Going

The KC Royals are 12-6 on the year and they’ve accomplished that without much help from Lorenzo Cain. Was last year an anomaly?

Last year, Lorenzo Cain was without question, the offensive leader or the Royals. He posted career highs in nearly every offensive category and tied for his career high in steals.

This year, things aren’t going so well for the 2015 third-place finished in the American League MVP voting.

On the season, Lorenzo Cain is batting a team worst .212 but does have an on-base percentage of .307. Oh his 14 hits on the year, only the two home runs have gone for extra bases.

Perhaps the most alarming piece of Lorenzo Cain’s game is his strikeout percentage. Cain is striking out at a 25.33 percent clip on the season which isn’t what the Royals need out of their three-hole hitter.

The first thought that jumps to mind is that maybe pitchers are finally trying to get something other than fastballs by Lorenzo Cain. Last year he killed pitchers that threw him a healthy dose of fastballs. He actually hit better than .380 against fastballs.

This year, not only is Lorenzo Cain batting .150 against fastballs, he’s striking out against them. In fact, according to Brooks Baseball, seven of his 19 strikeouts this season have come on fastballs.

Personally, I think he’s focusing too hard on trying not to pull the ball. I’ve watched him let several fastballs go by in the hottest part of his zone or watched him try to lash those to right instead of hitting the ball where it’s pitched (it should be noted that my opinion means absolutely nothing in terms of how to fix him).

Let’s take a look at the probably pitching match-ups for this three game set against the Angels and see which pitchers Lorenzo Cain is going to try and break out against.

Next: Swing And A Miss