Kansas City Royals 2019 Fantasy Projections – Another Royally Blue Season for the Royal Blue

Once a team built on exceptional speed and outstanding defense, the Kansas City Royals haven't had a winning season since their world title team in 2015. Bulging salaries caused a small market administration to part ways with most of the team's superstars. They are barely a mirror reflection of the exciting teams that made back-to-back Fall Classic appearances, losing game seven in 2014, with the tying run 90-feet from home plate.

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Kansas City Royals 2018 Recap

The middle of the Kansas City batting order is all that's left from their pair of World Series appearances. Surrounding Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez were unproductive hitters who couldn't move runners along, let alone drive them across home plate.

Kansas City pitching gave up the second most runs in baseball, and their offense scored runs at a woeful pace. What it lead to was a century-mark worth of defeats by the time only two-years removed from being crowned World Champions.

2019 Fantasy Pitchers Projections – The Best of the Kansas City Pitchers

The only thing that was rated weaker than the Royal's offensive performance in 2018 was the performance of their pitchers. Kansas City was only three teams from the bottom in over pitching numbers.

They allowed more earned runs than any team other than Baltimore with an ERA to match. Kansas City hurlers couldn't even save fantasy face with strikeouts, as they finished next to last in the league in that department as well.

Prospects aren't much brighter heading into 2019. Danny Duffy came out of nowhere to take the league by storm two seasons ago, but he has since returned to mediocrity. The rest of the Royal's starting rotation might have problems earning a number-five spot on most rosters.

Brad Keller is listed as the Royal's second best starting pitcher, but he has back-of-the-rotation stuff at best. Ian Kennedy is a serviceable veteran who seemed to turn back the clock a couple stretches in 2018. Jakob Junis and Eric Skoglund are better left as free agent fodder.

Danny Duffy SP – Duffy's ERA jumped more than a full run from 2017, but he only won one less ball game. His strikeout numbers held up, but he also walked way more batters per nine innings than at any point in his career.

Control issues, with only moderate power behind his fastball, left Duffy prone to big innings. He may be the ace of the Royals staff, but he doesn't warrant fantasy ace consideration heading into the new season. At best, he is a back-of-the-fantasy-rotation flier based on past performance.

2019 Fantasy Hitter Projections – The Best Bats in Royal Blue

The Royals' offense finished well down in the bottom third of all stat categories in 2018, except for stolen bases. It was the saving grace for fantasy purposes. They hit few home runs, scored very infrequently, and drew walks even less. In all honesty, it's sort of perplexing how they finished sixth in baseball for stolen bases.

What this all means for fantasy purposes, is that there are only a pair of really usable bats wearing Royal blue in 2019. Both are burgeoned by the positions they play. Whit Merrifield is an up-and-coming star at second base, and Salvador Perez is a catcher who hits cleanup.

Jorge Soler is a baffling underachiever, and Ryan O'Hearn may be worth consideration in dynasty formats. Other than that, the Royals score too infrequently, plus lack punch in the other fantasy relevant categories.

Whit Merrifield 2B – Merrifield is the epitome of a hardnosed baseball player. He hit over .300 for the first time in his short career, plus swiped 45 bags. He led Kansas City in runs scored, and drew a healthy enough number of walks. His strikeout numbers were a little high for a leadoff hitter, but he doesn't have to hit leadoff on a fantasy team.

Salvador Perez C – Because he's a catcher that bats in the cleanup spot, Perez is a valuable addition to a fantasy roster. The list of strong offense catchers in baseball is short. As a veteran, Perez is a top-five catcher, mixed in with younger superstars. A fantasy team could do a lot worse at the catcher position than this backstop in Royal blue.

Fantasy Rank Kansas City Royals

The Royals did very little in the off season to add productivity on the offensive side, nor did they ink a big-time arm to help with their pitching woes. Their team fantasy perspective mirrors the prospects of the real team. Other than a decent leadoff hitter and consistent fantasy catcher, the Royals aren't the place to look on fantasy draft day for big production.

Overall: 50
Pitchers: 50
Hitters: 55

The Bottom Line in Kansas City

Kansas City will be hard-pressed not to match the 100 losses they endured in 2018. They are going to need a number of average talented players to seriously overachieve. However, that has often been the history in Kansas City. They make the most of the talent they have while playing in a small market city. Royal's fans shouldn't be overly hopeful because by midseason their hopes could be turning royally blue.



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