Royals in the Outfield

Kansas City Royals

Team Analysis Part IV

Outfield

The major question for this years Royals outfield is…is the outfield a strength or a weakness? To be honest I don’t know the answer to that. I think the offence will be decent, but the defense, oh woe is me, just might be terrible. The Royals will be solid in center field, but the corners could be trouble. Granted, the Royals have depth and multiple possible combinations of players that could appear in the outfield, but each player has strengths and weakness that will offset each other. This will be an interesting year in the outfield and fun/painful to watch.

Emil Brown

This will be Brown’s third year as the Royals starting left fielder. His offence is decent; he led the Royals in RBI, 2^nd in home runs, 15, and 1^st in my favorite stat, doubles with 41. But does his offence counterbalance his defense? I was playing a MLB 07: The Show the other day and Emil had a fly ball hit him in the head, that’s how good his defense is. He had 12 errors playing right field for the Royals in ’05, which led the majors in errors by an outfielder, but was switched to left field and only committed 3, so obviously the switch did him well and his defense improved. I believe he is the best option for starting left field because he is a more of a danger with the bat then with the glove.

David DeJesus

DeJesus is one of the most important players on the Royals team this season. First of all with the lack of range by the left and right fielders he will have to cover more ground in center and he is also the leadoff/catalyst of the Royals offence. Last season DeJesus basically missed the first 2 months of the season. During the stretch DeJesus was on the bench the Royals went 11-37 and after he returned 52-63. He is a catalyst. As the leadoff hitter he gets on base and is an excellent base runner. One major step DeJesus needs to take is his stolen bases, last season he only attempted 9. He also plays an above average center field. I think this year will be a big step forward for DeJesus he just needs to stay healthy.

Mark Teahen

Last season’s player of the year and starting third baseman, Teahen, is now manning right field to make room for super-prospect Alex Gordon. So far the reports out of spring training are promising. Teahen is a superior athlete and is adapting to right field well and I think will end up being an average to above average right fielder. This year he will have some mistakes, errors and misplayed balls before he becomes comfortable in right field. Last year Teahen was the Royals best offensive threat, hitting 18 home runs in only 109 games. He is an excellent base runner, ranked as the 7^th best in the majors. It will be interesting to see if his offence takes a dip while he is learning the new position or if it will improve upon last year’s remarkable turnaround.

Joey Gathright

Gathright is supposedly the fastest player in the major leagues and he might not make the Royals Opening Day roster. Although he is fast he is a not a good base stealer, 10 of 16, he swings a limp noodle at the plate and does not get on base enough and is a below average center fielder…he takes poor routes to the ball, but he has enough speed to offset his mistakes. Gathright is still young and has options so I believe he will be sent to AAA to help perfect his craft.

Ross Gload

Gload was acquired by the Royals this off-season in a trade with the White Sox. Gload is slated to mainly be the backup first baseman and backup outfielder. He is a good left handed bat to have coming on the bench in a pinch hit situation or give an everyday player a day off.

Reggie Sanders

What a guy to have coming off your bench. If Sanders can stay healthy, he is an excellent 4^th outfielder. He hits for power and average is a good veteran to have around. The other thing that I really like about Sanders is trade bait. Come July when a potential pennant team needs a powerful right-handed bat, Sanders could be that guy. The Royals need to give him enough swings to make him valuable to some other team, but not so many that he gets hurt.

So that’s the outfield. It could be an interesting summer out in the grass at the K. There’s quite a bit of potential in the outfield, but potential and fruition are two totally separate pieces of the puzzle.

Coming up next…A Close to Spring Training

**Spring Training Update**

*Angel Berroa has been demoted to AAA! Earlier this week the Royals traded a minor league pitcher, Erik Cordier, to the Braves for Shortstop Tony Pena Jr. Pena is supposedly a potential gold glove candidate, but is no better then Berroa with the stick; 480 strikeouts in the minors and has 3 errors with the Royals in 2 games! I don’t know about this trade…I guess we’ll see, he has been named the Royals starter at short.

*Alex Gordon named the Royals starting third basemen. He’s batting .391 so far this spring.

*Zack Grienke is having a great spring. He has a 3.32 ERA, 21 strikeouts and only 2 walks! He has worked his way on to the rotation and hopefully will carry this success into the regular season.

*Why in the name of all that is holy does Buddy Bell have Mark Teahen in center field? He’s trying to learn right field, why not let him learn it. I know DeJesus in battling stomach problems, but we do have Joey Gathright for a reason.

One week to Opening Day!!!!

Royals Fact: Steve Balboni is the all-time homerun leader for the Royals, hitting 36 in 1985.

-b

“Royals Baseball in on the Air.”