Kansas City Royals: Players to watch that no one is talking about

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PLAYERS TO WATCH THAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT – SAMIR DUENEZ

Speaking of first baseman talent, Samir Duenez is someone to keep an eye on. The 21-year old has experience at both first base and in the outfield, not to mention he’s on the team’s 40-man  roster.

Samir Duenez is someone that Royals fans aren’t talking about, but he could end up being the talk of the town this season if he performs well. Let’s be honest… This season isn’t going to be super exciting, so if Duenez could step up and become a future staple in the lineup and either at first or in the outfield, Royals fans would put that in the win column for sure.

Samir Duenez has only played first base for the last two years, not having appeared in the outfield since the 2015 season.

Duenez turned heads in 2016 while spending time with three different minor league squads, slashing .284/.336/.438 with 13 home runs and 100 RBI. The next season he didn’t make it to Triple-A, but spent 132 games with the Double-A team in Northwest Arkansas. He slashed .252/.304/.402 with 17 home runs and 75 RBI with the Naturals.

Duenez will probably need some fine tuning in the minors to start the year, but I feel pretty confident that he’ll get called up before September for the boys in blue. For what it’s worth, Samir Duenez has only played first base for the last two years, not having appeared in the outfield since the 2015 season. That should be where he see him when he does get the call to KC.

That bodes well for a team that has a wide variety of options as far as first base goes. We may not be talking about Samir Duenez now, but we will be by seasons end.