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Kansas City Royals: How 2020 team can get to 71 wins

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 03: 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 to win the game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium on September 03, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 03: 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 to win the game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium on September 03, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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Whit Merrifield #15 of the Kansas City Royals  (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
Whit Merrifield #15 of the Kansas City Royals  (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

Center Field/Second Base – Whit Merrifield and Nicky Lopez

The 2019 late season development, production, and offseason work Nicky Lopez put in has allowed the Royals to move Whit Merrifield to center field full-time in 2020. The Royals were barely on the plus side in 2019 in regards to WAR production, producing 0.1 WAR, good for 26th in the league.

The Royals are moving their back-to-back hit leader to center field for 2020. Having Merrifield’s offensively production in what was a black hole for offensive production in 2019 will be a big plus. If Merrifield remains healthy for the entire 2020 season, he could produce somewhere between 2.9 WAR (2019) and 5.2 WAR (2018).

Merrifield possesses enough athleticism and range to handle the big center field at Kauffman, although he would be better suited to play left field. Merrifield should be at least average defensively in center. There’s a chance for improvement both defensively and on the basepaths for Merrifield with the return of Rusty Kuntz.

The reason the Royals are able to move Merrifield to center field creating +2.9 WAR at that position is the development of Nicky Lopez at second base.

In the final months of the 2019 season, Lopez hit .289/.333/.444 and he showed up to spring training with 18 pounds of added upper body muscle. So far in spring training, Lopez is hitting the ball with more authority and he’s starting to show some of the plate discipline that earned him the call-up during the 2019 season.

Lopez is a plus defender, an above average baserunner, and if really does breakout offensively, he should be able to outperform his 1.3 WAR projection (he’ll be +2 WAR player). The development of Lopez will alleviate the transition of Merrifield’s production to center field. The move of Merrifield to center field and Lopez taking over at second base should produce a positive WAR value of 2.2.

Improvement: +2 Wins