Kansas City Royals: Adalberto Mondesi picked up where 2018 ended
By Cullen Jekel
The Kansas City Royals, after blowing a couple of leads to the Twins, are not off to a great start in 2019. One positive thing that is evident is that the club’s shortstop Adalberto Mondesi has picked up right where he left off in 2018.
Adalberto Mondesi debuted in the 2015 World Series when he was only 19, appearing in one at-bat, in which he struck out. Things didn’t get easier for Kansas City Royals young cornerstone when he made his regular-season debut in July of 2016.
In 47 games, Mondesi struck out a whopping 48 times compared to collecting a mere 25 hits and six walks. He slashed .185/.231/.281 for a woeful .512 OPS and 37 OPS+. He was actually worth negative WAR, finishing at -0.3.
That came in a season in which the defending champion Royals were fighting hard to reach the postseason for the third consecutive season, something done by the club only once before, in 1976-1978.
Adalberto Mondesi hit the first inside-the-park home run of the 2019 season. Per @statcast, he got around the bases in 15.36 seconds, tied for the 4th-fastest on a HR in the last 2 seasons. pic.twitter.com/e3TxAsrWAo
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 3, 2019
It didn’t happen. The Royals finished 81-81, 13.5 games behind the Indians in the Central and eight games behind the Blue Jays and Orioles in the Wild Card.
In 2017, when the Royals pushed in all their chips in the last season in which they had the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain under contract, the team once again called on Mondesi. Couldn’t go worse, right?
Well…it went worse.
Over a paltry 60 plate appearances, Mondesi finished with -0.7 WAR. He struck out 22 times while walking thrice and collecting nine hits. He slashed .170/.214/.245.
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The Royals went 80-82, missed the playoffs, and then saw Hosmer and Cain walk. Moustakas only returned once his market dried up before being dealt to the Brewers, where he remains today, albeit as a second baseman for some reason.
But there was a positive for Mondesi in 2017: he absolutely raked in Triple-A.
For the Omaha StormChasers, he slashed .305/.340/.539 for a superb .879 OPS. He set a career-high in home runs with 13 while stealing 21 bases. He even walked 18 times (and struck out 86 times).
Last season, Mondesi again started in Omaha. While his numbers dropped, his OPS was still .786, and he still stole ten bases in 29 games. At that point, the parent club, on its way to 104 losses, brought him back up.
And it appears he turned the corner.
As the team as a whole struggled, Mondesi, a switch-hitter, shone as one of the team’s 2018 highlights. In 291 at-bats (a career-high, but a mark he’ll shatter this season, barring injury), he belted 14 home runs to along with 13 doubles and three triples.
He went 32-for-39 in steal attempts while walking 11 times. (Hey, it’s his career-high.) He still struck out a ton (77 times) but his overall OPS (.804) and OPS+ (116) made that number a bit more manageable.
Perhaps best of all, his numbers calculated to a WAR of 3.1. Pretty good for a youngster who had never before cracked zero.
Now, through five games in 2019, he’s continuing the trend he started last year. He’s hitting the cover off the ball as six of his nine hits have been for extra-bases, including two doubles, three triples and an inside-the-park home run. He’s slashing .409/.409*/.909 for a 1.318 OPS and 286 OPS+.
Adalberto Mondesi showing why he was the #Royals' No. 1 prospect in 2015 and '16. With this triple, he now has 2 doubles, 3 triples & a homer in the @Royals' first 5 games.
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 3, 2019
No player in #MLB history has ever posted those numbers in the first 5 games of a season. pic.twitter.com/0kMNi63MUr
*He’s yet to walk.
It looks like Mondesi is coming into his own for the Kansas City Royals, and while this isn’t the perfect time for him to do it (during the playoff chase in 2016 would have been better), it’s still a great time.
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With Old Man Gordon aging and Salvador Perez sidelined for the season, Royals fans need another face to grow to love alongside Whit Merrifield and Brad Keller. With a boatload of question marks on the roster, it’s nice to know that Mondesi will be around for seasons to come, hopefully improving as time goes.
And who knows? Maybe when the Royals capture their third World Series title, it will be on a pop-up caught by the homegrown, electrifying Adalberto Mondesi.