KCKingdom
Fansided

Kansas City Royals: Projecting positional player stats for 2020 season

By Cody Rickman

Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez gathered the team together for a pregame cheer before a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez gathered the team together for a pregame cheer before a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 8
Next
Ryan O’Hearn #66 of the Kansas City Royals is swarmed by teammates at home plate after hitting a walk-off home run during the bottom of the 9th inning (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Ryan O’Hearn #66 of the Kansas City Royals is swarmed by teammates at home plate after hitting a walk-off home run during the bottom of the 9th inning (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

First Base

  • Ryan O’Hearn (2020 Steamer projection) – .235/.314/.435 with 37 extra base hits (17 home runs) – 0.2 WAR
  • Ryan McBroom (2020 Steamer projection) – .255/.315/.409 with 23 extra base hits (9 home runs) – 0.1 WAR

The platoon of O’Hearn (LH) and McBroom (RH) projects to be much better in 2020 than the group that generated -2.9 WAR at the position in 2019. O’Hearn was in large part a big reason the position was a black hole in 2019, as suffered in a season long slump fueled by his unlucky BABIP of .230.

O’Hearn’s hard hit profile should have resulted in more success in 2019, but when you look at his batted ball profile, you see he his groundball percentage was at 46.3%. This groundball percentage isn’t abnormal for O’Hearn career numbers in the minors, but is a substance difference from his successful campaign in 2018 where he only hit 34.6% groundballs.

If O’Hearn is able to tweak his approach and find his 2018 fly ball rate (46.2%) and line-drive rate (19.2%), then he will experience a breakout performance in 2020. O’Hearn is capable of hitting above .260 with an OBP of .350 and 20+ home runs.

McBroom had a fantastic year in AAA for the New York Yankees before arriving in Kansas City late in the 2019 season. McBroom hit .315/.402/.574 with 55 extra base hits (26 home runs) in AAA before hitting .293/.361/.360 with five doubles with the Royals.

Dayton Moore may have found the Royals a really undervalued player in McBroom. If McBroom is able to find his power in 2020, build off his plate approach, and the contact ability he showed in 2019, then the Royals will have the enviable problem of having to find him more at-bats.

First base for the Royals is my position to breakout in 2020. Both O’Hearn and McBroom project to be around league average defensively. Offensively, there is enough contact and power potential between O’Hearn and McBroom for the Royals to generate 30+ home runs at the position and carry a slash line above .260/.350/.480.

Home/Kansas City Royals