Kansas City Royals: Power Rankings Volume 1 for 2019 season

BOTTOM FIVE

5. Wily Peralta, Relief Pitcher

Peralta, last year’s closer to end the insufferable season, is struggling out of the gate in 2019. In just seven innings pitched, his ERA is 7.71, his WHIP 1.571, and his FIP 5.86. Yikes. Plus, he’s walked more batters (4) than he’s struck out (3). Sure, sure, small sample size, and I get that, but before arriving in Kansas City, Peralta’s numbers in last year with Milwaukee were as follows: 57.1 innings pitched, 7.85 ERA, 1.831 WHIP, 5.34 FIP, 52 strikeouts, 32 walks. It seems that Peralta may be back.

4. Billy Hamilton, Center Fielder

The speedster is 3-for-4 in steal attempts, but he’s still struggling getting on base, which doomed his tenure in Cincinnati. He has only nine hits and four walks in 41 plate appearances, slashing .220/.283/.220. With zero extra-base hits, he’s scored only six times while playing questionable defense. But he did score from second base on a sacrifice fly to deep center, which was pretty cool:

3. Frank Schwindel, First Baseman/Designated Hitter

Already demoted to Omaha in the name of “regular playing time,” while in Kansas City, Schwindel stunk, going 1-for-15. On the bright side, he only struck out twice. Yet, and this is a concern, his woes have followed him to the StormChasers, as he’s currently only 3-for-15 in Triple-A.