By Brad Ziegler
Kansas City Royals fans have been looking forward to the upcoming season more than they have in nearly a decade after the team’s remarkable turnaround in 2024 and their appearance in the postseason. After a fairly quiet offseason where the team spent more resources locking up current players in their lineup than adding new ones, the question for many is whether the team can continue, and possibly build on, their success or, as some baseball pundits have predicted, some regression is likely.
The team’s 86-win season and second place finish in the American League Central Division was the greatest season-to-season improvement in team history and was attributable, in large part, to their starting rotation, which ended up being one of the best in baseball. Veterans Seth Lugo, the runner up in the AL Cy Young voting, and Michael Wacha led Royals starters to the second lowest ERA and the second most innings pitched total in 2024, and Cole Ragans continued to develop into one of the most dominant strikeout pitchers in all of baseball, finishing the season with 223 strikeouts.
General Manager JJ Piccolo resigned Wacha, extended Ragans during the offseason and re-signed 2024 mid-season acquisition Michael Lorenzen to a one-year contract to fill the void after the team traded former first round pick Brady Singer to the Cincinnati Reds. Homegrown Kris Bubic has earned the fifth spot in the rotation after coming back from injury in 2024 and having success in the bullpen in the latter part of the season. Piccolo is counting on this rotation being able to stay healthy and go deep in games in 2025 but has former 20 game winner Kyle Wright and 2024 starter Alec Marsh in Omaha working their way back from injuries and who should be available if needed.
Piccolo began to upgrade the team’s bullpen mid-season last year after early season challenges in the relief corps led to trades for Hunter Harvey and Lucas Erceg and promotion of Bubic and Daniel Lynch IV from the minors. The team signed free agent Carlos Estevez, who had 57 saves over the last two seasons, in January and will bring Angel Zerpa, John Schreiber, Sam Long and Chris Stratton back for another season to round out the bullpen. With the four late-inning relievers all able to throw in the upper 90’s, Manager Matt Quatrarowill have plenty of hard throwing options in high leverage situations to choose from.
The Royals projected pitching strength will take the pressure off the team to make significant improvements offensively over last season. Bobby Witt, Jr. is back after an MVP runner-up season where he led all of baseball in batting average and sparkled in the field, winning his first gold glove. Witt, Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino combined for 310 runs batted in last season despite Royals leadoff hitters combining for the worst on-base percentage in baseball. The Royals hope to remedy that by adding Jonathon India from Cincinnati in the Singer trade to take over the leadoff spot for 2025. India’s .352 on-base percentage in 2024 would have been second only to Witt in the Royals lineup last season and should add additional run-scoring opportunities in 2025.
Photo KC Royals.
India will likely be part of a three player rotation at second base, third base and DH along with Michael Massey and Maikel Garcia. Garcia will probably also give center fielder Kyle Isbel occasional days off against left-handed pitching. Isbel, MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe struggled offensively during much of 2024, with Renfroe battling injury during the second half of the season. All three outfielders contributed key hits at different points of the season, however, and will return to the starting lineup on opening day.
The remaining spots on the opening day roster will likely go to backup catcher Freddie Fermin, who is one of the top defensive catchers in baseball and who gave the team unexpected offense for much of 2024, outfielder Dairon Blanco, who will be the team’s primary pinch runner after stealing 31 bases last year, utilityman Cavan Biggio, who signed with the team in the off-season and who played a variety of infield and outfield positions last season for three different teams, and Mark Canha, a ten year veteran that the team traded for earlier this month to provide defensive versatility and a pinch hit bat with a high onbase percentage to the lineup.
Many baseball prognosticators have the Royals, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers taking a step back in the American League Central to various degrees this season, in part due to their projection of an improved White Sox team, whose 121 losses in 2024 contributed to each team’s win total. Others project a step forward for the Royals, citing the team’s expected improvement at the leadoff position as a reason for an incremental increase in wins. The health of the starting rotation and the team’s big three bats in the lineup will likely determine whether fans are able to enjoy October baseball again.