Kansas City Royals: Way too early 2020 outfield predictions
The Kansas City Royals could have a major shake-up in their outfield this offseason. What could the 2020 starting outfield look like?
There will be a lot of questions that are answered this winter for the Kansas City Royals and two of those pertain to the outfield situation.
One of those is the future of Alex Gordon; Will he retire or will he be rocking a Royals uniform again in 2020? The other is about Whit Merrifield and whether or not the organization opts to trade him or keep him around.
If Gordon comes back, then he is undoubtedly the left fielder for the 2020 season. Why wouldn’t he be either? He’s won six Gold Gloves and is nominated for one again this year. His offense was better in 2019, which could definitely be made in a case toward him continuing his career for one more year.
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If, however, Gordon does opt to retire, then who could be in left field?
Well, that’s where Whit Merrifield could come into play. He spent the least amount of time in left field last year, but he has experience at all three outfield spots.
Let’s say, for the sake of this article, that neither of those guys are back in Kansas City in 2020. What could the outfield look like in that case?
That’s where things could get interesting, as the Royals would have a plethora of choices to man the outfield next year. The biggest names in that group are Brett Phillips, Jorge Soler, and Bubba Starling while Hunter Dozier and Ryan McBroom also dabbled in the outfield throughout the 2019 campaign.
Dozier is more than likely going to be at third base most of the time, but McBroom spent most of his time in right field last year. With Soler proving to be a true power hitter, having him as the designated hitter on most occasions makes the most sense. That could open things up to have McBroom in right field.
From there, Phillips in left field and Starling in center field would be the likeliest scenario. Now this isn’t to say that this would be the lineup every day, but this would give the Royals a decent defensive outfield.
If Gordon returns, then it’d be interesting to see who won the center field job between Starling or Phillips, or if those two would man center and right with McBroom taking over first base.
The Kansas City Royals will have some decisions to make in the outfield, but we’ll have a better idea of how the outfield might look once we know what Alex Gordon decides and where Whit Merrifield might land, assuming he gets traded to another team.
What are your predictions for the Royals outfield in 2020?