The Kansas City Royals of the late 2010s are teams Royals fans would rather forget. Once the majority of the 2015 World Series-winning squad departed, the winning ways were left with them.
From 2016 to 2019, Kansas City’s 310 losses were tied for the third-most in MLB, a stark decline from its back-to-back pennants in 2014 and 2015. Only the most die-hard fans continued to follow the Royals’ return to their losing ways, reminiscent of their 2000s counterparts.
It was an unremarkable time for many Royals players. And even as former Royals utilityman Chris Owings announces his retirement, his time in Kansas City is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
Chirs Owings’ Royals tenure was a lowpoint of his lengthy MLB career.
The utilityman was Kansas City’s biggest free agent swing for most of the offseason following the 2018 season, and that was enough to set the 103-loss season to come. The former Arizona Diamondbacks player was Kansas City’s Opening Day starter at second base, but that was largely his high point in Kansas City.
Owings played all over the field for the Royals, but that kept him and his .415 OPS in the lineup through 40 games. His -1.1 bWAR with the Royals put him on pace for nearly -5 bWAR across an entire season, just to frame how poorly he performed in Kansas City.
There are 227 players in the MLB who have at least 100 plate appearances this season. Among them, Chris Owings currently ranks:
226th in BA
227th in OBP
225th in SLG
226th in OPS
221st in K%Chris Owings has started 32 of the first 41 games of the season for the #Royals. pic.twitter.com/j7cgNoEXqH
— Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) May 13, 2019
Need some more lowlights? Owings struck out looking against a position player on May 7, while the Royals beat the Houston Astros 12-2 in a rare dominant showing at the plate. It was a sign to come of his final game in a Royals uniform, when he collected the infamous golden sombrero on May 30. Kansas City designated the veteran for assignment the next day and mercifully ended the Ownings experiment.
Still, Owings carved out a lengthy MLB career. His jack of all trades, master of none approach to fielding played a big part in that, as he played at every position except first base and catcher in his MLB career. Most of his work came at second base or shortstop, making him a solid bench player to have in case of emergency.
He certainly wasn’t earning contracts with his bat, considering Owings’ career .650 OPs and 71 OPS+. But he continued finding opportunities at the game’s highest level, and that is commendable. Even if his time in Kansas City is inarguably his worst stop with any one team.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
