MLB Notebook: Kansas City Royals Preview

In the second year under manager Matt Quatraro, the Kansas City Royals made a mammoth jump from 56 to 86 wins. They advanced to the Division Series. It was the franchise’s first winning season and playoff trip since the World Series championship run of 2015. Was that kind of dramatic success the real thing, or is a slip coming?

Here’s a look at the 2025 Kansas City Royals:

HITTING FOR POWER

The great Salvador Perez is still behind the plate and still hitting home runs. At age 34, you have to think his body is going to give out one of these years, but he still hits in the mid-20s for home runs.

Hunter Renfroe and MJ Melendez are at the corner outfield spots, and while they’re somewhat one-dimensional offensive players, that dimension is hitting 20 or so homers each year. Michael Massey slugged .449 last year playing second base. While he’s being displaced at that position by Jonathan India—respectable power himself—Massey will likely get his at-bats at DH.

Thus, we come to Bobby Witt, the new face of the franchise and one of the top five players in all of baseball. Witt was already a rising star coming into 2024, and he delivered his best all-around year. The shortstop hit 31 homers and slugged .588.

GETTING ON BASE

Witt batted .332 last year, posted an on-base percentage of .389 and stole 31 bases. Maikel Garcia is a base-stealing threat, swiping 37 bags a year ago. He batted .251 with an OBP of .302. If he could boost those numbers, KC would have their table-setter and ignitor.

Perez, along with first baseman Vinnie Pasqauntino are .260 hitters. Beyond that, there’s not much else. The upside is that most of the Royal lineup is at least respectable running and stealing bases. They’ll need to maximize every baserunner they get.

STARTING PITCHING

This rotation is consistent and well-balanced. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Michael Lorenzen all finished with ERAs in the 3s, and all have track records that make this a reasonable continued expectation. Ragans in particular is young enough, that it’s fair to think about him becoming a Cy Young candidate.

The fifth spot is a question mark as Kris Bubic tries to comeback from Tommy John surgery, but the Core Four is as steady as any rotation in the league.

BULLPEN

The starters need to be good, because the bullpen has question marks. Carlos Estevez should be fine closing games, with Hunter Harvey and John Schreiber being decent in setup. But this trio still isn’t going to remind anyone of the Wade Davis-Greg Holland-Kelvin Herrera team that dominated Octobers a decade ago. And there are considerable depth problems. In an era where “workhorse starters” go six innings, Kansas City either needs an acquisition or someone unexpected to emerge.

OUTLOOK

The Royals aren’t perfect, but they look pretty good. Betting markets are cautious, with an Over/Under win total of just 82.5. I think they’ll beat that and validate their improvement of a year ago. Whether they can fill in the gaps and get to the 90-95 win level is the next question.