Kansas City Royals: How will AL Central fare in early 2020s?
By Cody Rickman
The Kansas City Royals have added several players to the roster this offseason, but will it be enough to keep up with the improvements that the other teams in the AL Central have made?
The American League Central saw a changing of the guard last season, with the Minnesota Twins winning the division and the Cleveland Indians not even making the postseason. Kansas City Royals along with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox didn’t make much of a run at all.
What will the AL Central look like in 2020 and beyond? Let’s take a look, starting with the Royals.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Notable additions:
With the addition of Maikel Franco for the 2020 season, the Royals will have even more roster flexibility than before.
If Alex Gordon returns to the ball club this offseason, then the Royals will have a significantly improved outfield offensively with Whit Merrifield taking over in center field and Hunter Dozier manning right field. If Gordon decides to retire, the Royals will likely play Whit Merrifield full-time in left field with Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips platooning in Center Field.
Maikel Franco presents an improvement defensively at third base for the Royals. Franco has been a highly variable player in terms of production and his stat line could fluctuate between .230 to .270 with his batting average and .290 to .320 with his on base percentage. Franco has been consistent with power and should be able to produce around 20 homeruns annually.
A healthy Adalberto Mondesi at shortstop and a consistent/improved Nicky Lopez at second base should give the Royals a strong keystone duo for most of the first half of the decade. Mondesi has the abilities to be a star and the Royals should look to lock him up to a long-term contract. Lopez struggled in his first season in the MLB, but he has the potential to be gold glove caliber defender and a .280 hitter with an on base percentage around .330 with speed to steal 15+ bases per year.
Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan McBroom have the potential to produce a 30-home run season for the Royals at first base with their split platoon. O’Hearn was very unlucky in his 2019 season with a .230 BABIP and a 42.4% hard hit rate. Each player has the ability and potential to hit 20+ homeruns for the Royals in 2020.