Kansas City Royals: Most disappointing players in 2018
By Mike Norris
In a year of many disappointments for the Kansas City Royals, a few players stood out the most. Fans knew even in spring training 2018 would be a down year, but 104 losses later here are the players that most exemplified one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
Hey, at least the 2018 Kansas City Royals weren’t the Baltimore Orioles! Sadly, they weren’t much better either.
The Royals 58-104 record (11 games better than Baltimore) was only two games ahead of the lowly 2005 season — led by “ace” Runelvys Hernandez’s 8-14 record and 5.52 ERA. Zack Greinke, in his second year, had five wins, a league-high 17 losses and a career worst 5.80 ERA.
So, while this past year wasn’t record-setting bad for the Royals, after a stretch of seeing the team win at least 80 games in five consecutive seasons, it was a major disappointment to say the least.
Kansas City finished ninth in the American League in batting average (.245), 13th in OPS (.697), slugging percentage (.392), home runs (155), runs (638), RBI (606) and total bases (2156), but did manage to slide all the way up to 12th in on base percentage (.302).
On the mound it was worse.
Their team ERA of 4.94, batting average against of .275, 786 earned runs and 1,157 strikeouts were only better than Baltimore, while their 61 quality starts bested Baltimore and the Toronto Blue Jays.
About the only thing positive the Royals did on the mound was walk just 549 batters, ranking fifth in the AL.
It certainly wasn’t the whole team that contributed to the disappointment. Adalberto Mondesi (.276 BA, 14 home runs, and 37 RBI in 75 games) showed why the club is so high on him, and second baseman Whit Merrifield led the majors in both hits (192) and stolen bases (45). Starting pitcher Brad Keller (9-6, 3.08 ERA) gave Royals fans plenty to be excited about in the future as well.
Let’s take a look at the players who were most responsible for the unforgettable season, starting with a guy who was supposed to be the team’s no-doubt number one.