Kansas City Royals: Five Most Pleasant Surprises in 2016

Most Pleasant Surprises in 2016 – Number 2: Paulo Orlando

Paulo Orlando got called up to Kansas City in 2015 and very few people knew who he was. This was a guy who was 29 years old at the time and had spent nearly a decade in the minors.

The 30 year old improved greatly at the dish, batting over .300 to end his second major league season (.302/.329/.405 slash line).

Yet, his first at bat saw him smashing a triple at the K, and he soon became known as “Mr. Triple”.

At the end of 2015, Orlando only slashed .249/.269/.444 and many didn’t think him and Jarrod Dyson platooning in right field was a good idea.

While Orlando did struggle a bit defensively, his offensive numbers in 2016 were insanely good. The 30 year old improved greatly at the dish, batting over .300 to end his second major league season (.302/.329/.405 slash line).

Orlando had a 14-game hitting streak at one point in the season, which saw him batting .444 during that span. Crazy!

Paulo Orlando jumped between center field and right field during the season and could be kept on the team in 2017 due to his familiarity with the team. It wouldn’t surprise me, however, if the team parted ways with Orlando this offseason.

He’ll be 31 in November and the team has an array of outfielders on the roster already (including Dyson and Billy Burns, who are virtually the same player). It’d just be a bit shocking if the Royals opted to keep all of their outfielders for next season.

Hopefully if Paulo does stay with the Royals, he continues to bat as well as he did in 2016. The offense could use that spark in the lineup.