Kansas City Royals: Changing Negative to Positive

The Kansas City Royals have suffered some key injuries to Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas but some youngsters got an opportunity and have taken advantage of it.

Alex Gordon, the silent leader, and Mike Moustakas, an emotional leader, are important pieces for the Kansas City Royals. Losing two players who are All-Stars, locker room leaders, and top defensive players at their position should have crippled the Royals.

However, Brett Eibner, Whit Merrifield, and Cheslor Cuthbert came up and immediately impacted the Kansas City Royals.

Thanks to the injury to Gordon and Moustakas, we got the chance to finally see some of what the next wave of Royals players looks like.

Whit Merrifield, who wasn’t on the original 40-man roster coming out of Spring Training, has become the poor man’s Ben Zobrist due to his versatility; and received the appropriate nickname “2-hit Whit”.

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Merrifiled has dominated since being called up. He’s got a slash line of .333/.350/.483 as of Tuesday afternoon. He’s added two home runs, ten doubles and one triple. The 27-year-old changed his swing and added muscle during the off-season. So far the results are paying off huge for him and the Royals.

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Also due to Merrifield’s success, the Royals were able to cut ties with Omar Infante which opened up the roster spot for an additional pitcher.

Brett Eibner has shown his readiness for the big leagues with his bat, defense, and speed on the bases. All while stealing the hearts of every female in Kansas City.

Eibner’s played in eight games for the Kansas City Royals. He’s slashed a respectable .310/.355/.552 during his short stint in the big leagues.

He’s got one home run, four doubles and six runs batted in. He delivered a walk-off base hit in the epic comeback against the White Sox on May 28th.

Cheslor Cuthbert has shown that he can pick up where Moustakas left off defensively and have some productivity at the plate as well. He won’t hit for power like Moustakas but he creates contact which is what the Royals are looking for.

Cuthbert slashed .268/.303/.384 in 37 games. He’s also made some highlight reel plays channeling his inner Mike Moustakas on defense.

Due to the success of these three, the Royals have been able to consistently stay in the race for the American League Central division title once again this season.

The team has also stayed above .500 with a record of 38-31 one game back of the Cleveland Indians for first place.

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The sample size is small, but there are encouraging signs for the Royals. With the success the rookies are having, the offensive holes don’t seem to be as big of an issue. The Kansas City Royals future looks bright.