After nine seasons of watching October from their couch, the Kansas City Royals made the postseason last fall. The Royals last made the playoffs back-to-back World Series appearances, falling to the San Francisco Giants in 2014 and defeating the New York Mets in 2015 for the second championship in franchise history.
But while the memory of many Royals fans may skip from Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain to Cole Ragans and Bobby Witt Jr., there were a lot of players who passed through Kansas City between playoff appearances. One former Royal who was an All-Star during this stretch was handed some devastating news on Thursday and it could provide a major setback heading into the 2025 season.
Former Royals All-Star Andrew Benintendi Out With Broken Hand
The Chicago White Sox announced on Thursday afternoon that Andrew Benintendi has suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right hand and will miss 4-6 weeks. Benintendi spent two seasons with the Royals and made the All-Star team in 2022 but has spent the last two years with the White Sox, hitting .246/.309/.374 with 25 home runs and 109 RBI.
Andrew Benintendi will miss 4-6 weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his right hand.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 27, 2025
Those numbers are a far cry from where Benintendi was earlier in his career. The seventh overall pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 2015 MLB Draft, the Arkansas product was a consensus top 100 prospect ahead of his major league debut in 2016 and was the No. 1 prospect on Baseball America’s and MLB Pipeline’s list entering the 2017 season.
Benintendi started his career well, hitting .273/.353/.435 with 51 home runs, 260 RBI and 53 stolen bases in 63 attempts before he was traded to the Royals before the 2021 season. He hit .276/.324/.442 with 17 home runs, 73 RBI and eight stolen bases in 17 attempts in his first season in Kansas City but had one of the best years of his career in 2022, hitting .304/.373/.399 with five home runs, 51 RBI and eight stolen in 11 attempts.
While part of the reason Benintendi was selected to the All-Star Game was that the Royals finished 65-97 that season, it was enough to get him traded to the New York Yankees midway through the 2022 season. Benintendi signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the White Sox the following offseason but Chicago hasn’t gotten a proper return on its investment.
The White Sox are an afterthought in the American League Central race after losing an MLB-record 121 games last year. But following former players is part of being a baseball fan
While the Royals have their own injury issues, Benintendi’s recovery could be a secondary storyline to follow as Kansas City looks for it’s first division title since 2015.