Are the Royals This Year’s Tigers?

Of course they’re not. But the Kansas City Royals are off to a 6-2 start and in first place in the AL Central, one game ahead of the White Sox. Of course, nobody’s expecting the Royals to play .750 ball the rest of the way, even if we are talking about the AL Central here. This is, after all, the division where the Indians went from jokes to champions, and where last year the Detroit Tigers overturned two decades of futility to go 88-74, spending much of the year in first place. There seems to be something in the region’s water that gives these teams delusions of grandeur. The author Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” A case in point are the Tigers themselves, who were sizing up their ring fingers in Spring Training, only to stumble out to an 0-6 start.

Three of those losses came to the Royals who, like that other 80s success story Magnum P.I., are making an unexpected reappearance on the national scene. And while a postseason appearance for this club seems unlikely at best, a .500 record could be in order for a team on a definite upswing. Last night Zack Greinke went 8 scoreless innings and beat the Yankees 4-0. Greinke is now 2-0 on the year and in 15 innings has an ERA of 0.60. He’s part of a pitching staff that has been red hot out of the gate and the biggest reason for the Royals’ early success. As a whole, the staff has an ERA of 2.25 and a WHIP of 1.13. The Royals have five relievers who have yet to surrender a run. This includes closer Joakim Soria, who has surrendered just two hits in five innings and has gone 4/4 in save opportunities. Overall, Royals opponents have scored four or more runs just twice. And this hasn’t been against any cellar-dwellers either. In addition to sweeping the Tigers, the Royals have defeated the Yankees in the first two games of their three game set, with the final game scheduled for tonight. In between the club lost two out of three to the Twins by a combined three runs.

The Royals have needed such great pitching, because the offense hasn’t produced much. The club is only averaging about three and a half runs per game and have scored more than four only once. There are some good numbers here though. Mark Grudzielanek leads the team with a .407 BA. Emerging star Billy Butler is hitting .406 with four doubles. Alex Gordon is hitting .303 with 6 RBI. The main problem here is a lack of power.The team has four home runs, tied with the Twins for last in the AL. And although the team is third in team batting average and tied for first with 10 steals, they’re ninth in total bases and tenth in runs scored. More ominous for the team’s future is the fact that the team is last in walks and 12th in OBP.

All in all though, Royal fans have to feel pretty good. After all, the team’s roster averages 28.7 years of age, with most of its key players being among its youngest. Soria is only 23; Butler is a wee lad of 21, and  Gordon and Greinke are both 24. Both Butler and Gordon are expected to hit more home runs as they get older and stronger, and with a pitching staff like this, the future looks bright for KC in the years to come.

So what about this year? The team will continue to struggle to score runs. Grudzielanek is a career .290 hitter with a career OBP of .332, so he isn’t likely to hit .400 for the rest of the season. Neither is Butler, and the team’s already scuffling offensively even with these inflated numbers. A lack of extra-base hits is already apparent. So is a lack of patience; Butler and Gordon combined have 0 walks. The Royals’ lineup has a problem that any lineup that young would have. When the youngsters learn to be more selective at the plate, the Royals will become a real threat. As for this year, expect the club to struggle toward the .500 mark. Their division is probably the toughest in baseball, but if the Royals keep improving, it’s going to get even tougher.