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KC Royals: Jarrod Dyson Should Lead Off

By Scott Dillon

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The KC Royals are in a slump right now. They just dropped their third game in a row and the offense is largely to blame.

Yes, Ian Kennedy and Edisnon Volquez had shaky outings for the KC Royals in the three game set against the Angels. Yes, it’s hard to win games when the pitching staff gives up home runs. There were seven in the series.

A lot of the stuff that got Ian Kennedy and Edinson Volquez into trouble came with a little bit of bad luck. They literally dinked and dunked the Royals to death. They also got some uncharacteristic defensive play out of Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar (Those official score keepers were pretty generous with awarding hits in regards to Omar Infante).  All I can say, is thank goodness they’re done in California for the year. They finished their season in that state with a 1-5 record.

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While the pitching can be looked upon for some blame, their is plenty of blame to go around the lineup as well. The Royals have four key players who just aren’t hitting.

Kendrys Morales, Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar, and Lorenzo Cain are all batting worse than .225 on the year. Of the four of them, only Alex Gordon has an on-base percentage over .300. ‘Esky Magic’ is dead, at least for right now. Apparently, the lead-off hitter’s on-base percentage needs to be .296 or better for that magic to work. .250 isn’t going to cut it.

Not only are these players not hitting, they’re not making contact to even do a job when they don’t get a hit. The other teams can’t field a ball that isn’t in play. The four of them are striking out in 26.5 percent of their at-bats. If you pull Escobar out of the mix, those three are striking out in 30.6 percent of their at-bats.

For a team that thrives on contact, they aren’t doing a good job of making much of it this season. It’s to these players that people can point as they try and figure out why the Royals aren’t scoring runs.

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The Royals are batting an awful .214 with runners in scoring position this season which is fifth worst in baseball. It doesn’t help that the lineup is constructed in a way that has a cold batter, followed by a hot batter, followed by a cold batter, etc.

In some ways it could be looked upon as if the Royals have the perfect formula to break out of these slumps. Slotting a cold hitter in-between two hot hitters should give the Royals’ cold hitters something to hit. But in other ways, it could be looked at as the complete opposite: Cold hitter leads off with an out, hot hitter doubles, cold hitter might move him to third but gets out, can pitch around hot hitter to get to cold hitter.

It’s time for Ned Yost to do something to switch things up. Moving Jarrod Dyson to the top of the order may do just that.

So far this season, Jarrod Dyson is slashing .333/.394/.400. He’s also been the most clutch hitter the Royals have with runners in scoring position so far this season.

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It’s still early, and the Royals still have a winning record. The White Sox look like they’re on fire right now as they just walked into Toronto and swept them. It’s not time to panic yet. It’s also unlikely that the Royals are going to change anything about their lineup for right now. Ned Yost is the least meddling manager in baseball, that’s science, and it’s not likely to change quickly. It will likely take something major to force his hand.

Well, what do you think about the KC Royals so far this year? Are you ready to see a change? Will the Royals break out of this slump before it’s too late? Let me know your thoughts in the comments’ section below.

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