The Royals Need More From Their Supporting Staff This Year

There hasn’t been a whole lot going right for this year’s Kansas City Royals. Coming off of an 86-win showing in 2024 that resulted in their first playoff berth since 2015, the Royals entered the current campaign with some sky-high expectations.

It’s not everyday you see a team go from 56 wins one year to 86 the next, but this young and exciting squad made it happen. Through their first 22 games in the current season, things are looking bleak to say the least.

The Royals enter Sunday’s action with an 8-14 record, good for third in the American League Central. They’re five-and-a-half games behind the Detroit Tigers in the division but their -25 run differential is better than only the Colorado Rockies (-52) and Chicago White Sox (-30). Otherwise, it’s been ugly.

After such a poor start, the concern is that last year’s Royals were just a one-off, and whether or not the potential is in there for an extended contention window. Outside of Bobby Witt Jr., basically the entire lineup has gone ghost.

Let’s check out the few things that have gone right so far, and where the Royals’ biggest problems lie.

All stats updated before action on Sunday, April 20

Let’s Get the Good Out of the Way First

Unfortunately, this section should be nice and short. Mostly because there’s exactly one player who’s playing like an All-Star right now, and that’s Witt, the face of the Royals’ franchise.

Witt is so young and so early into his big league career, but he’s already established himself as one of the top talents in the league. He finished fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year race in 2022, finished seventh in the AL MVP voting in 2023, then had a massive breakout in 2024 – finishing second in the MVP voting, making the All-Star Game and taking home a Silver Slugger Award.

Through his first 22 games this year, Witt is picking up right where he left off, this time as a much richer man. He signed a long and complex contract extension this past winter that’ll keep him in Kansas City at least through 2030. Thanks to a slew of options, he could potentially remain as the leader of the Royals through 2037.

Here’s a look at where Witt ranks in shortstop leaderboards to start the year:

That’ll play alright. The only problem, of course, is that Witt is basically the Royals’ only source of offense.

Shoutout to Mikael Garcia

A tip of the cap goes to Maikel Garcia as well, as he’s one of three hitters to receive at least one at-bat with the Royals this year and sport a wRC+ above 100, which is league-average. Witt is at 142, Garcia is at 110 and Mark Canha (who only has 17 plate appearances) is at 184.

Garcia’s entering his third full season and to date, he’s been a light-hitting speed demon whose value comes from his glove and wheels. This year, he’s continuing to show off that speed and is in the 89th percentile in Outs Above Average, but that bat is finally showing some life.

Through his first 21 games, Garcia is hitting the ball much harder than he did last year, and once you pair that with his top shelf pitch selection at the dish, the offensive numbers are starting to creep up. He’s got six extra-base hits to date with 10 RBI, a .739 OPS and 110 wRC+.

None of those are going to knock your socks off, but he’s showing some competence at the plate for the first time in his career and is also the Royals’ only other above-average regular. The offense has been weak, but he’s the clear No. 2 behind Witt right now.

What’s Going Wrong for the Royals Offense?

Dialing up the sample size to a minimum of 50 plate appearances, no Royals hitter has a wRC+ above 80 so far. What’s most disappointing is the fact that a lot of the names on the bottom of this list are ones that were supposed to help carry this team’s offense.

• Jonathan India: 80

• Vinnie Pasquantino: 64

• Salvador Perez: 57

• Kyle Isbel: 54

• Michael Massey: 26

• Hunter Renfroe: 14

• MJ Melendez: -3

India was the Royals’ top offensive acquisition this past winter, coming over from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Brady Singer. He’s started to bounce around as a utility player for the first time in his career, but perhaps all the defensive adjustments he’s working on have started to harm his bat.

India has yet to homer and is hitting just .219. Pasquantino and Perez, two popular Royals who have shown their potential many times over the years (especially the latter), are hitting just .192 and .193, respectively. Renfroe is nothing more than dead weight at this point in his career and Melendez just received a demotion to Triple-A after the ghastly start he was off to to begin the year.

The averages are dropping, as are the on-base numbers (26th in BB%, 28th in OBP). This is leading to a free-fall in the standings. It’s fine and dandy to have a superstar like Witt leading the charge, but when everybody else (not you, Maikel Garcia) is falling flat on their faces, Witt’s not going to be enough.

One of the biggest problems with the Royals offense is that there’s not just one singular thing they’re not doing well.

Their BABIP is low, which can sometimes be because of the fact that they strike out a lot or hit a ton of home runs, but this isn’t the case for this year’s team. Instead, they have the fourth-highest soft contact percentage in baseball while sitting all the way down in 21st in hard contact percentage. They are not getting unlucky (which at times is what a low BABIP can suggest), they’re just not hitting the ball hard at all.

This is backed up by the fact that Royals hitters have combined for an ISO of .099 which is the worst in all of baseball, as are the 11 home runs they’ve hit. Their raw power is non-existent. Over the years, they’ve been a team that makes that work better than others – primarily by excelling in the small-ball realm by walking/hitting singles/doubles, stealing bases and bunting for hits – but that version of the Royals isn’t anywhere to be found.

Closing Thoughts

With such a widespread issue in this offense, there doesn’t appear to be an easy fix. Melendez getting a breather in Triple-A should help his case, but the Royals can’t exactly option everyone who’s off to a cold start.

The Royals’ pitching staff has been solid, which is a big reason why they’ve even got eight wins this year, but the offense is going to need to turn things around. One of the biggest worries with this organization is the fact that they’re not able to go out and acquire multiple MVP-caliber bats at the deadline to help shore things up. This is a roster that, perhaps more than any other team in the league, needs its internal pieces to produce in the worst way.

Maybe the answer is going to come from an adrenaline shot like a Jac Caglianone promotion. The 22-year-old hit well in spring training this year, but his .783 OPS in 14 Double-A games to start the year isn’t exactly jumping off the page. He likely needs some more seasoning.

Having Witt and a promising pitching staff to lean on is a great start. Last year’s Royals showed us that this is a unit that can jump into contention, but the 2025 iteration is looking like a shell of last year’s team. At least so far.