Kansas City Royals: Frank Schwindel deserves an opportunity

With under one week until the regular season begins, the Kansas City Royals have begun trimming down the final roster. One of the biggest remaining decisions is what to do with Frank Schwindel.

As of the writing of this, the Kansas City Royals roster is down to 35 players.

According to Rustin Dodd, the Royals beat writer for The Athletic, the final roster spot (subscription required, and recommended) could very well be down to one of three positional players: Frank Schwindel, Cheslor Cuthbert, and Humberto Arteaga. Because Schwindel is the most one-dimensional player among those three, he’s the long-shot.

But that shouldn’t be the case.

In the offseason, the Royals–projected to lose 89 games by Baseball Prospectus before Salvador Perez‘s season-ending injury–centered things on adding versatility and speed. In came ex-Red center fielder Billy Hamilton and ex-Diamondback utility man Chris Owings, both players non-tendered by their former clubs and picked up on the cheap by Kansas City.

One thing the team didn’t add? Power.

As a team, the Royals hit only 155 home runs in 2018, which ranked 26th in the Majors and was 31 total home runs below the league average. Mike Moustakas, traded last July, provided 20 of those home runs while Perez provided a team-leading 27.

Mere days ago, the Royals signed first baseman Lucas Duda to a minor-league contract. Duda, cut by the Twins on March 20th, twice hit 30 home runs in a season, in 2014 for the Mets and in 2017 between the Mets and Rays. But last year between the Royals and Braves, Duda hit just 14 home runs while slugging only .418.

Duda’s signing only makes Schwindel’s future with the franchise that much murkier. Taken in the 18th round of the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft, Schwindel will be 27 before July rolls around. No longer a top prospect–hell, no longer a prospect–if the Royals don’t add him to the Major League roster this year to add some much needed pop, then when will they? What’s the plan with Schwindel?

Last year, Schwindel appeared in 134 games with the Omaha StormChasers. In that time, he smashed 24 home runs with 38 doubles and 93 RBIs while slashing .286/.336/.506. In 233 games at the AAA level, he’s hit a total of 41 home runs with 68 doubles and 165 RBIs while slashing .302/.338/.516.

This Spring Training with the big league club, he’s hit three home runs with a slash line of .327/.379/.531. That equals an impressive OPS of .910.

Collectively, those numbers should intrigue the Royals more than Duda’s .241/.313/.418 in 2018; Cuthbert’s Major League career slash line of .252/.303/.378; and Arteaga’s 2018 slash line of .292/.322/.386 in Omaha.

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Schwindel’s numbers warrant a call up to the Majors.

While he’s almost 27, he’s still younger and offers much more potential than Duda. And while his overall game is much more limited than Cuthbert’s Arteaga’s, the power he can provide as a first baseman, designated hitter, catcher (his natural position), or even from a corner outfield position should be enough for manager Ned Yost and general manager Dayton Moore to feel comfortable in giving him the opportunity.

And if not, then they should trade him. Schwindel deserves better than to further toil in Omaha while Kansas City puts someone like Duda on its roster ahead of him. While guys like Schwindel aren’t worth as much as they used to be in today’s game, other teams value potent bats.

Besides, when a team is all but guaranteed to lose at least 85 games the upcoming season, what does it hurt to give a young guy a chance in the Majors? What do the Royals gain by putting Duda, Cuthbert, or even Arteaga, ahead of him?

The answer to that is, of course, nothing. If the Royals don’t add Schwindel to the Opening Day roster, then it’s clear that this organization, in 2019, is not concerned with putting on the field the best possible roster.

Either promote Schwindel, or trade him to a place that will.