Kansas City Royals: Power Rankings Volume 1 for 2019 season
By Cullen Jekel
TOP FIVE
5. Adalberto Mondesi, Shortstop
Picking up right where he left off, Mondesi exploded out of the gate, slashing .409/.409*/.909 with a 1.318 OPS and 286 OPS+ throughout the Royals’ first five games of the season. In those matches, he hit three triples, two doubles, and had an inside-the-park home run. Since then, he’s cooled down, but he’s still sporting a .833 OPS and 121 OPS+. If he could, you know, not strike out six times the number of times he walks, that would be ideal.
4. Whit Merrifield, Second Baseman/Right Fielder
On a team that features the blazing Billy Hamilton, it’s the 30-year-old Whit Merrifield who leads Kansas City in steals (tied with Mondesi) with five. He has nine extra-base hits while slashing .314/.347/.500 for a 128 OPS+.
Perhaps most importantly, he produced one of the best hitting streaks recently witnessed in Major League Baseball as he set the Royals’ franchise record by hitting safely in 31 straight contests between the end of 2018 and the start of 2019. And he set that record in exhilarating fashion:
Whit Merrifield extends his hitting streak to 31 games on RBI bunt to break George Brett’s Royals record ⚾️
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 11, 2019
(via @Royals)pic.twitter.com/YlZKfHwX5W
3. Hunter Dozier, Third Baseman
Dozier, who played mainly first base last year, has solely manned the hot corner in 2019. In the process, the former first-rounder draft pick has hit the cover off the baseball. His 94.1 MPH exit velocity ranks in the top 8% of the Majors. With four home runs, he’s tied with Jorge Soler for the team lead, and his slugging percentage (.580), OPS (.959), and OPS+ (157) all rank second on the team for players with more than 10 at-bats.