KC Royals: Does Bubba Starling have a place on 2020 roster?

By Leigh Oleszczak | Jan 26, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - AUGUST 02: Bubba Starling #11 of the Kansas City Royals bats against the Minnesota Twins on August 2, 2019 at the Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Royals 11-9. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) /

With KC Royals FanFest in the books, it’s time now to turn our attention toward Spring Training, which will be here before we know it. What we don’t know is the role Bubba Starling will have in 2020.

It took eight years, but Bubba Starling finally made his MLB debut for the Kansas City Royals in the 2019 season. He ended his rookie campaign with a slash line of .215/.255/.317 while hitting four home runs, 12 RBI, and stealing two bases through 197 plate appearances/56 games.

The Royals could have an outfield conundrum in 2020 especially with Alex Gordon returning to the team for one more year. That puts Gordon in left field (at least until he’s potentially traded, which can happen due to him waiving his 10-and-5 rights), Whit Merrifield in center field, and Hunter Dozier will make the move from third base to right field.

With the outfield basically put together, that leaves room for a fourth outfielder to fill the gap on rest days or due to injury and that’ll come down between Starling and Brett Phillips. Both are similar players, only Starling has been in the Royals organization since being drafted fifth overall in the 2011 MLB Draft. Phillips was brought in via trade with the Brewers in 2018.

More from Kansas City Royals

Starling is 27 years old and there was a lot of hope for him when the Royals first drafted him. He’s not only been home grown in the Royals system, but he’s a Kansas City guy, playing high school ball at Gardner-Edgerton High School in Gardner, Kansas. That made it especially exciting when the Royals took him back in 2011.

Not many people probably predicted that it’d take eight years for the Gardner native to make it to the big leagues, but that ended up being the case. He struggled with his bat and with staying healthy in the minor leagues and finally got his opportunity to show if he’s worth keeping around and the early verdict wasn’t good there.

Now he’ll have to fight for a spot on the 2020 roster and the Royals are out of options on both Starling and Phillips, so sending one to the minor leagues isn’t a possibility unfortunately. It’s possible the team keeps both players, but they’re essentially the same player, so that seems unnecessary.

Starling spent most of his time in center field last season, but also saw a decent amount of time in right. If Dozier is the designated hitter on one day, Starling could fill in as the right fielder or Merrifield could be put in right field that day and Starling could go to his preferred spot of center field.

That makes spring training very important for Starling in 2020 because this really could be his last chance to prove himself and make the team. He didn’t wow in his first season in the majors, but being a first round pick by the organization could give him the edge here.

Even if Starling does make the team, he’ll be the fourth outfielder and won’t be playing very often and that’s not exactly what the Kansas City Royals had planned for him when they took him in the first round in 2011.

Home/Kansas City Royals