Kansas City Royals: Where did it all go wrong in 2019?

Performance and Bad Luck

• Nicky Lopez (Second Base/Shortstop) – Lopez started off hot at the plate once called up, but soon began to struggle and he stopped doing what made him successful in the minors, he lost his patience at the plate. Lopez has swung at and made contact too many pitches outside the zone and it has cause him to press. Recently Lopez has found himself on a 12-game hit streak and his numbers in the month of August have improved dramatically. I expect Lopez to continue to develop and be a key contributor to the Royals line-up and infield in the 2020 season.
• Ryan O’Hearn (First Base) – O’Hearn has been stricken with the dreaded “Loud-Out” syndrome all season long. O’Hearn has been unlucky in his ability to made solid contact only for it to be a line drive out to a shifted defender. His BABIP for 2019 has been at .215 (career +.315 in minors) which means he is a prime candidate to outperform his numbers in 2020
• Pitching – early in the season the Royals had a several leads heading into the late innings and that’s when the bullpen would implode. The Royals have got to find some solutions for late inning relief to find sustained success in 2020.

The Royals are six wins below their Pythagorean W/L record suggesting this team is better than their actual record suggests. The Royals ability to play high quality defense and run around the bases will cause havoc for many teams moving forward.

If their power bats (Dozier, O’Hearn, Jorge Soler) continue to develop the Royals could be competitive on a nightly basis.