KC Royals: Is Paulo Orlando The Answer At Right Field

Paulo Orlando, the former 10-year minor league player, has made an impact for the KC Royals the past couple of years. Could right field be his for the taking this season? It’s looking good so far.

Through 19 games in 2016, Paulo Orlando has slashed .340/.364/.472.

On Monday against the Boston Red Sox, he went three for four collecting a single, triple and a two-run home run. He was just a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

Orlando ran onto the big league screen, literally. He accumulated six triples in 86 games for the Royals last season. He also crushed seven home runs as well, including that beautiful walk-off grand slam against Tampa Bay in July.

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Orlando plays solid defense. Through 16 games played this season, 15 in right field, he has a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000 with two assists. Although sometimes his routes are a bit unconventional and scary to watch, he get’s the job done.

A concern about Orlando coming into this season is his inconsistency to hit right-handed pitching.

During the 2015 season, his batting average against right handers was .238 in 149 plate appearances. He also struck out a lot against righties, collecting 40 strikeouts.

This season his numbers have improved against right-handed pitching. He has a batting average of .306 and 11 hits in 12 games. His home run and triple both came off a right handed pitcher. This stat alone should get Orlando more playing time at right field.

Before Orlando’s monster game against Boston, Manager Ned Yost thought about giving him more playing time.

Ned said he's still trying to balance time at second. He'll start doing same with Dyson/Orlando in right. Looking for someone to emerge.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) May 13, 2016

Even better news. Orlando mashes left-handed pitchers. Through 18 plate appearances against a left hander, Orlando’s slashed .412/.444/.471.

It’s clear that the person to emerge in right field is Paulo Orlando. He’s hitting much better and more consistently than Jarrod Dyson has all season long. They both have incredible speed, so the hot bat should get the start in right field, that of which belongs to Orlando.

Through 23 games this season, Dyson’s slashed .222/.273/.306. Those numbers are fair worse than Orlando’s.

Dyson’s defensive numbers are pretty good though. In 20 games in right field, he has a .976 fielding percentage with five assists and one error.

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Dyson is a good player. He got the “Salvy Splash” Wednesday afternoon for a reason.

Dyson hit a huge triple down the right field line against the Red Sox. He later scored the go ahead run on Lorenzo Cain’s sacrifice fly .

He assisted on a vital out when he gunned down speedy, Xander Bogaerts, during the top of the eighth inning for the second out on Wednesday afternoon. If he didn’t throw Bogaerts out, the Red Sox might have tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Travis Shaw.

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Both players are worth a big league roster spot because of their talents, but Orlando seems to be the player with more upside to this point. He has more power than Dyson and better overall numbers. That’s why he’s the guy right now.

What do you think, Royals nation? Should it be Dyson or Orlando in right field?

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