Kansas City Royals: Who Would Royals Protect in Expansion Draft

WHIT MERRIFIELD

Whit Merrifield has become one of my favorite players on the team simply because he’s clutch at the plate. At 28 years old, Merrifield doesn’t provide the same youth factor that guys like Jorge Bonifacio and Cheslor Cuthbert provide, but he can swing the bat and play defense pretty much anywhere on the diamond.

Merrifield’s .292 batting average this season just shows how great he’s been for the Royals. He’s also been able to fill two major needs for the Kansas City Royals: an every day starting second baseman and a true leadoff guy. Those are two areas where the Royals struggled to find consistency.

While Merrifield probably isn’t well known by any other MLB teams, the KC Royals need to protect him. When teams would research further, they’d see Merrifield’s stats and how good he is at getting on base and that’d make him an easy candidate to swipe off the Royals roster.

Nobody would have guessed that one of the best players on this team in 2017 would be Whit Merrifield, but hey… No one is complaining either. He’s not going anywhere.