The Royals’ season is off to an exciting start, and after twelve games, a few players deserve recognition.
Let’s examine three athletes that are currently experiencing breakthroughs since they have been doing admirably and deserve praise.
3 Royals Players Breaking Out in New Season
1. Maikel Garcia
With a .244/.273/.561 slash line, you’d think Maikel Garcia was a power-hitting 5-hole, but the Royals lead-off man has shown he has power and is already one homer shy of tying his home run total from last season.
Being the leadoff hitter, you’d like to see some more results on base which will come as season extends and he works more walks as pitchers attack him less. Garcia starting off hot is something maybe only Royals fans saw coming but it is great to see that the vision of him and Bobby Witt Jr. patrolling the left side of the infield for years to come is here.
2. MJ Melendez
MJ Melendez deserves nothing but props as the former catcher came into this season knowing he needed to be an above average hitter in the outfield and has done that and more. His 1.124 OPS is good for sixth in MLB while seeing his K% drop and his overall swing looking great. Seeing Melendez reach his potential here in these early games is a great sign going forward as like KC front office saw, this kid is a threat at the plate.
Melendez seems to be getting a similar arsenal thrown at his as last year but is just hitting the fastball much better with more barrels and maintaining top of the league exit velocity. Maintaining this production of 212 WRC+ will be tough but seeing him cut down on swing and misses while increasing the amount of balls he’s hitting hard is exciting.
3. Bobby Witt Jr.
Of course, the $300,000,000 + man is saved for last as the potential AL MVP is playing out of his mind right now! The ball jumps off of Witt’s bat a little differently than others and mixed with blazing speed on the bases you get a franchise player that is carrying his weight through three series. He hasn’t hit a home run in a week but has been crushing the ball and couldn’t be more due for a HR as he enters a series with the Houston Astros who have great pitching but they’ve struggled and honestly, Witt Jr is better.
Witt Jr could be a 9-win player this year and very possibly pass George Brett’s 1980 Season which by BWAR (9.4) is the greatest season by a Royal ever and anyone that was watching then already knew that before the internet. Either way, the short stop is in that caliber of player and if he stays healthy will at least collect some MVP votes this year at the minimum.
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