Kansas City Royals: Way too early 2020 lineup predictions
By Cody Rickman
The Kansas City Royals will end 2019 having lost 100 games two seasons in a row. Dayton Moore has the new rebuild process in full swing with a wave of excelling prospects headed to the majors. What will the 2020 roster look like?
This offseason poses an opportunity to build the complimenting aspects of a roster for future competitive Kansas City Royals teams. The Royals have a chance this offseason to take advantage of several talented teams facing a 40-man roster crunch (via trade and Rule 5 Draft). There are also a few bargain free agents the Royals can target to supplement the roster in 2020 to bridge the gap until their talented prospects arrive.
Catcher
The Royals will benefit in 2020 from the returning leadership of Salvador Perez behind the plate, who was dearly missed. The six time All-Star, five time Gold Glove recipient, and two Silver Slugger recipient was out for all of the 2019 season, as Perez recovered from Tommy John Surgery.
Perez was coming off of his best defense season of his career when he injured his UCL in spring training. A fully healthy Perez offers the game’s best defensive behind the dish for the Royals with the offensive ability to hit 20+ home runs per season. Perez will be instrumental in the development of a young pitching staff as the talented pitching prospects start to make their way onto the roster.
Perez has been instrumental in the development of the promising young Royals catcher Meibrys Viloria. Viloria has shown off a cannon for an arm and an adept ability to frame pitches. Viloria needs to continue develop his relationships with the pitching staff and improve his pitching calling moving forward. He projects to hit around .250 with potential power to reach 11-14 HRs. A more complete write-up on Meibrys Viloria can be seen here.
2020 offseason transactions: None
- Future: MJ Melendez (ETA: 2022)
Drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft out of high school (Westminster Christian (Miami, FL)), the son of Florida International University head coach Mervyl Melendez Sr has already been the backstop for two minor league championship teams (2018 Lexington Legends and 2019 Wilmington Blue Rocks).
Melendez has the chance to be a Gold Glove caliber catcher in the majors with a great arm and excellent receiving skills. Melendez is still developing at the plate and had a rough 2019 season statistically in the tough hitting environment at Wilmington being 2.6 years younger than his peers.
He showed off his potential at the plate in the A+ playoffs slashing .300/.447/.500. Melendez has the offensive potential to be a .250 hitter in the majors averaging 15-18 home runs per year.