The All-Star break affords the opportunity to look back at the first half to see what went right and wrong for the thirty MLB teams. The Kansas City Royals are up next, and here is the pre-season post on the AL Central.
| Statistic | Kansas City | AL Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Runs per Game | 3.93 | 14th |
| Batting Averge | .251 | 13th |
| On-Base Average | .310 | 14th |
| Slugging Percentage | .399 | 13th |
| ERA | 4.40 | 10th |
| Strikeouts per 9 IP | 7.1 | 5th-T |
| Walks per 9 ip | 3.50 | 10th |
| HR per 200 IP | 21.2 | 2nd |
What Went Right
Zack Greinke and Brian Bannister developed into a good front of the rotation. Greinke was pretty unhittable for the first two months of the season, not giving up a home run until June. Bannister picked up his strikeout rate and cut down on his home runs allowed, lowering his ERA two runs from last year.
Billy Butler developed good doubles power, and Mark Teahen hit well at second, then took over at third when Alex Gordon got hurt. Alberto Callaspo is putting up another good OBA season and developed a little power as well.
What Went Wrong
The stated goal of the Royals front office in the off-season was to increase the team’s on-base average. They did a terrible job as the Royals are last in the category. Mike Jacobs is the poster child here. He was the big acquisition of the off-season, and he’s getting on base at a .296 clip.
Notice that the pitching strikes out plenty of batters and doesn’t allow many home runs, yet a high walk rate led to a high ERA. Not surprisingly, their defense is very bad.
The Royals assembled a poor team, and no deadline trade is going give them a quick fix.
Other teams in this series:
- Oakland Athletics
- Seattle Mariners
- Texas Rangers
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Cincinnati Reds
- Houston Astros
- Chicago Cubs
- Milwaukee Brewers
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Baltimore Orioles
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Tampa Bay Rays
- New York Yankees
- Boston Red Sox
- San Diego Padres
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Colorado Rockies
- San Francisco Giants
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Cleveland Indians
Posted by David Pinto at 10:39 pm | Team Evaluation | Permalink | No Comments
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