KC Royals: 2025 World Series Champions Part 2 – Outfield/DH
By Cody Rickman
The tide is turning in Kansas City and the KC Royals’ projected roster in 2025 has the chance to contend for an American League pennant and a World Series title.
The Kansas City Royals have built an intriguing and successful minor league farm system the past few seasons with a small market strategy of acquiring talent via the amateur draft and international free agent market.
The Royals’ recent run of success (2013 – 2017) was predicated on building a strong farm system by acquiring talent in the amateur draft and international free agent market. Times have been tough recently as Royals fans watched their fan favorites leave via free agency.
The Royals appeared to have capitalized on their compensation following the departure of free agents Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain with a 2018 draft bonanza that included several promising, near-ready pitching prospects to accelerate rebuild hopes.
The development of international signings and drafted position players in 2017, 2018, and 2019 adds to the excitement of a tidal wave of talent set to crash into Kansas City in the very near future.
Adding to the flavor is the possibility of an impact player with top draft pick for 2020 and another possible high draft pick for the 2021 season if the 2020 MLB season takes place and the Royals fail to perform.
What will the 2025 Kansas City Royals World Series contending roster look like?
More. 2025 World Series Champs Part 1: Infield. light
Outfield (Part 2)
Left Field – Khalil Lee (ETA – 2020)
Khalil Lee has three plus tools in his speed, power, and defense. He showed off his ability on the basepaths in 2019, stealing 53 bases in the process.
He still has a lot of swing and miss to his plate approach (tries to kill pitch with long swing), which is something new hitting coordinator Drew Saylor will help him iron out. His approach and swing looked really promising during spring training in 2020 when he showed power to the opposite field with a short compact swing.
Lee may need to increase his aggressiveness early in counts to reach his power potential moving forward as his selective nature gets him behind in counts against quality pitching. Once he starts to mature and gain experience, he should see his batting average reach its potential.
In 2025, Lee will be entering his age 27 season in his fifth full season in the MLB. Lee is capable of handling duties in each of the corner outfield positions with his strong arm, range, and athleticism he’d be a plus defender in left field (gold glove candidate).
Lee is capable of producing .260/.340/.430 slash line with 20 homeruns and 25 stolen bases. Lee compares favorably to former Royal Brian McRae who in his age 27 season produced a slash line of .288/.348/.440 with 57 extra base hits and 28 stolen bases.