Kansas City Royals: Ned Yost teases possible 2019 lineup

The Kansas City Royals won’t play regular season baseball until late March, but manager Ned Yost is already getting us excited. He recently discussed a potential starting lineup for the boys in blue.

A popular topic during Major League Baseball offseason is “What will the starting lineup look like next year?” Well, Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost has given us a bit of a sample.

Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star wrote up an article a few days ago about this very topic. McDowell mentioned that the players we’ll see in the lineup on a regular basis are set, but the order could be shuffled a bit.

Yost liked Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi leading off, which makes sense due to their ability to get on base and their speed. Either of those guys getting on base immediately puts pressure on opposing defenses because they can take off at any moment.

From there, Yost hinted that Alex Gordon would likely be in the three hole due to previous success there. Salvador Perez would bat fourth with Jorge Soler following him. After that, it’d be Ryan O’Hearn and Hunter Dozier. Billy Hamilton would bat ninth.

Hamilton batting ninth could be interesting because it’d mean he, Merrifield, and Mondesi, all three speed guys, would be very intimidating for defenses late in the game.

It’s hard to find many faults with this lineup. Merrifield and Mondesi were the two best hitters last year and both provide amazing speed on the base paths.

While Gordon isn’t great offensively anymore, the three spot has been kind to him in years past. If he has the most success there, then let’s keep rolling with it.

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Perez and Soler would be the two power hitters, so having them fourth and fifth respectively makes perfect sense. They add that pop in the middle of the lineup.

O’Hearn and Dozier are still a bit unknown. O’Hearn did okay last season as a rookie, but can he replicate those numbers in 2019? Dozier struggled, but he’s going to get another shot to prove he’s the answer at third base moving forward.

Lastly, no one should be surprised to see Hamilton in the nine-hole. He’s not great at getting on base, but when he does… Whoa, nelly. The guy can swipe bases like nobody’s business! He’ll be fun to watch if he ends up coming in as a pinch runner late in a game.

At the end of the day, it’s December and this might not even end up being the lineup Ned Yost chooses to go with on Opening Day. It does seem pretty realistic though.

What do you think of this way too early Kansas City Royals’ lineup?