KC Royals: Evaluating MLB.com 2021 Opening Day roster prediction

The KC Royals’ 2021 Opening Day is still several months away, but it’s never to early to think about who will make the roster.

Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com put together a list of who he thinks will make the Kansas City Royals‘ Opening Day roster in 2021. There weren’t any surprises on Flanagan’s list, but let’s go through what he discussed and how he thought the roster would look:

• Catcher – Salvador Perez is a given, but since Cameron Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria are out of options, they’ll be battling it out to see who gets the backup job in 2021.
• First Base – Hunter Dozier likely gets the starting job, once again displaying his versatility, with Ryan McBroom and Ryan O’Hearn fighting for the backup job in spring training.
• Second Base – Nicky Lopez is the unquestioned starter here. He was nominated for a Gold Glove this year and Flanagan notes that while Lopez struggled offensively, his stellar defense more than makes up for it.
• Third Base – Maikel Franco
• Shortstop – Adalberto Mondesi
• Outfield – This will be one of the most intriguing spring training battles next year. Alex Gordon retired, leaving left field vacant for the first time in a decade. Flanagan says that Whit Merrifield is the only lock in the outfield and he predicted that Franchy Cordero would play in left field and that Edward Olivares was another starting option. He mentioned that Bubba Starling is out of options and could land as a backup. Nick Heath, Kyle Isbel, and even 2019 No. 2 overall pick Bobby Witt Jr. were also mentioned as potential options here.
• Designated Hitter – Jorge Soler

Those are all of the position players on Flanagan’s list and it’s hard to argue with any of them really. While I don’t see Witt being on the Opening Day roster (he didn’t have a true minor league season in 2020, so it might be best to give him some time in the minors next year), him being grouped in here is interesting for sure.

He noted that the utility position will likely be filled by someone in free agency, which we’ve seen the Royals try to do over the years. They have plenty of players who can play all over the diamond, but Dayton Moore loves signing those kind of players to one-year deals.

As for the pitching, we know that Kris Bubic, Danny Duffy, Brad Keller, and Brady Singer are locks to make the rotation, but who gets the fifth spot? Flanagan predicted that Carlos Hernandez would be that No. 5 starter, but also discussed that someone like Daniel Lynch or Jackson Kowar could find their way into the rotation with an impressive spring training.

Relief pitching was the main surprise, with Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal both making the list. Both guys are free agents this winter and the Royals even traded Rosenthal to San Diego last season.

"Adding Holland, and especially Rosenthal, are probably pipe dreams, given how tight the Royals’ finances will be after owner John Sherman took a financial beating in his first year of ownership. The Royals have great interest in bringing back Holland, and they think they have a chance. Rosenthal is a longer shot because he’ll probably get a market deal too rich for the Royals."

Outside of those two, it’s the names you’d expect to see in the KC bullpen with Scott Barlow, Jesse Hahn, Jakob Junis, Josh Staumont, Kyle Zimmer, and Tyler Zuber rounding out that unit. It’d be a bullpen with a lot of potential, as we saw in 2020.

Opening Day might be over four months away, but it’s never too early for Kansas City Royals fans to start predicting who will be on that roster!