The Kansas City Royals started this season with an offense that was incredibly lackluster and inconsistent. It felt inevitable that they would eventually improve. The question was how much they could improve and overcome obstacles such as injuries.
Between March 27 and May 15, the Royals had a .239 average, .703 OPS, .318 OBP, .385 SLG percentage, 185 runs scored, 44 home runs, 124 extra-base hits, and 163 walks in 45 games. Overall, the numbers are not bad, but they are not nearly as good as they should have been.
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From May 16 to now, the offense has stepped it up considerably, posting a .260 average, .736 OPS, .323 OBP, .412 SLG percentage, 160 runs scored, 36 home runs, 108 extra-base hits, and 107 walks in 35 games. In 10 fewer games, the Royals have improved in most of those categories, which is a positive sign.
A few things the Royals have improved upon, which have helped their recent offensive success, have been their improvement with runners in scoring position along with offensive production with two outs.
Even more impressive is the fact that the Royals have continued their offensive surge even with a few key stars missing from the lineup.
The first player to go down was Vinnie Pasquantino. He suffered a hamate fracture and underwent surgery. At the time Pasquantino went down, he had finally started to turn things around, so it was a hit to the lineup.
Next up was Bobby Witt Jr. He has never officially been placed on the injured list, but he has been held out of the last four games due to a Grade 1 MCL sprain. He has reportedly resumed baseball activities, but losing one of the best players in baseball is a significant blow to any lineup.
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Lastly, and most recently, Maikel Garcia was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left-hand muscle strain. The timeline is unknown regarding how long the recovery could take, but Garcia has been playing through this issue for as far back as a month now.
In the four games Bobby Witt Jr. has been out, the team has continued producing offensively. In those four games, the Royals have scored 30 runs, hit eight home runs, recorded 19 extra-base hits, and posted a 3-1 record.
While it is only a four-game sample size, the production has remained consistent despite the injuries. The offense has continued to generate runs and extra-base hits while several key contributors have been unavailable.
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Overall, this is a positive sign. The Royals’ offense has finally started to click, and they have been able to do so without key players. That ability to continue producing despite injuries could become increasingly important as Kansas City attempts to remain in the playoff race during the second half of the season.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
