Kansas City Royals are a home run hitting team this season
The Kansas City Royals have never been known as a power team, but they’re starting to break that mold in 2017. As a team, the Royals have smashed 54 home runs through 47 games.
The Kansas City Royals are currently locked in a five-way tie for the 17th most team home runs through 2017 at this point of the season. Normally, the Royals are always near the bottom of those standings, as they’ve just never been a home run hitting team.
With Kauffman Stadium being as big as it is, the Kansas City Royals have struggled to hit a lot of home runs. Even in big playoff games, such as the Wild Card game in 2014, the Royals won the game by keeping the line moving and not hitting a single homer.
That hasn’t been the case this season though, as the Royals are constantly banging home runs and are no longer the “single guys over” type of team.
Despite the Royals being awful offensively, they haven’t shied away from the long ball in 2017. Here are the top five Royals in home runs so far this year:
- Mike Moustakas (12)
- Salvador Perez (11)
- Brandon Moss (9)
- Jorge Bonifacio (6)
- Whit Merrifield (5)
I can safely say that nobody expected Bonifacio and Merrifield to make appearances on that list, but there they are at fourth and fifth respectively. Bonifacio has been hitting dingers right and left since he came up the big leagues, and Merrifield has just recently gotten hot at the plate.
As for the top three Royals on that list, that’s good to see. Moustakas is playing for a long-term contract this offseason and his 12 home runs are showing that he’s still great at the plate. Perez has always been good at belting home runs and is off to a hot start this season.
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As for Moss, he was signed for this very reason. Moss always had success at going deep at the K even when he was with other teams. He’s finally figuring out how to crush the baseball this season and that’s good news for the boys in blue.
While watching the Royals hit home runs is certainly fun, it’s not helping them win games. They’re still last in the AL Central and have one of the worst records in all of Major League Baseball.
Being a power team just doesn’t work as well for the Royals like it does for other teams, like the Toronto Blue Jays or Houston Astros, who became known for crushing home runs.
On this current road trip, however, the Kansas City Royals have been displaying their knack for hitting home runs this season. They’ve crushed 13 home runs in just seven games, which would have been unheard of for the Royals just a year ago.
A disappointing note is that Eric Hosmer only has four home runs to his name, Lorenzo Cain has only belted two, and Alex Gordon still has yet to go long. Guys like Drew Butera, Cheslor Cuthbert, and even Raul Mondesi Jr. all have at least one home run and Gordon is still waiting to hit a deep ball.
Again, it’s sure been fun watching the KC Royals transform into a power team, but it’s not helping them win games. Fans were used to watching the team single home guys and keep the line moving. I think we might finally have to embrace that those days are long gone.