Opening Day is less than a week away! The Royals players just have a couple more exhibition games before they start to matter. Some players have hit their groove, and others are still waiting for that spark to get them started with real games just around the corner. Which players stood out in the final weekend of spring training?
As a reminder, don’t read too much into spring training performances. Sample sizes are still small, competition levels vary, and players may be working on specific adjustments that don’t necessarily translate to traditional stats. This post is only meant to inform and summarize what has happened in the past few games.
Who’s Hot? 🔥
Starling Marte
Marte was recently brought in by the Royals to improve their offensive outlook in 2026, and so far, he is showing his value. On Saturday, he went 1-for-2, bringing his spring slash line to .294/.400/.353 with a 114 wRC+. While he has not shown great power yet this spring, his on-base ability has stood out.
Marte’s plate discipline has been on display with a 13.9% chase rate (98th percentile), 21.4% whiff rate (72nd percentile), and a 15% walk rate (92nd percentile). This combination of plate discipline and on-base ability will be a welcome addition to a Royals lineup that struggled to create runs from the DH and corner outfield positions.
Marte has not yet shown an ability to hit for power this spring, with a double as his lone extra-base hit. Marte is sitting at the 9th percentile in hard-hit rate and 24th percentile in average exit velocity this spring. Considering he had a late start to spring, the Royals will hope that he can exhibit more power once he is fully up to speed for the season.
Kyle Isbel
Isbel had a solid weekend, going 2-for-4 with a walk across Friday and Saturday’s games. He has also been hitting the ball hard, with three of his four batted balls registering exit velocities over 95 mph. After this weekend, Isbel has improved his spring slash line to .303/.410/.394 with a 125 wRC+.
While he has not shown much power, Isbel has excelled at hitting the ball hard, posting a 64.3% hard-hit rate (96th percentile) this spring. In 2025, he struggled in this area, with a hard-hit rate of just 38.2%. Despite still showing limited barrel and pull-air rates, this jump in hard contact could point to increased offensive upside.
Given his track record, the Royals will not expect Isbel to maintain this level throughout the 2026 season. However, if Isbel can carry some of this improvement into this season, he can greatly raise the floor of the Royals’ offense.
Salvador Perez
On Saturday, Perez went 1-for-3 with a two-RBI home run, his second of spring. Perez has had a relatively quiet spring overall, but this home run brings his spring training slash line up to .235/.316/.647, good for a 142 wRC+ in 19 plate appearances.
More notably, Perez has limited his strikeouts. He has only gone down on strikes twice so far in his small sample size, making his strikeout rate 10.5% this spring, close to half his rate from the 2025 season.
While Perez is still working to fully hit his stride, he has definitely shown his power ability with an OPS of .963. After spending time captaining Team Venezuela to its World Baseball Classic victory last week, he will look to continue that success into the 2026 season. While many people are looking to see Carter Jensen supplant Perez as the Royals’ primary catcher, if he can maintain his power into 2026, Perez can prove he still belongs as the starter this season.
Who’s Not? 🧊
Carter Jensen
Jensen had a hot start to his spring but has since cooled down. On Saturday, he went 0-for-3, bringing his spring slash line to .231/..286/.462 with a 93 OPS+.
He is still hitting the ball hard, with an average exit velocity of 93.3 mph and a max exit velocity of 111.4 mph. If he can optimize his launch angle more consistently and barrel the ball, Jensen will continue to have power potential.
Ryan Bergert
Bergert threw four innings on Friday, allowing four earned runs on five hits and two walks. He struggled to find the one on Friday with a zone rate of only 38.3%.
While his fastball generated above-average chase and whiff rates, his slider and sinker were susceptible to allowing contact. The silver lining to Bergert’s performance is that his fastball, sweeper, and slider all graded highly with Stuff+ of at least 105.
This outing brings his spring ERA to 7.24 across 13 ⅔ innings pitched. Bergert has allowed six home runs and an average exit velocity of 92.6 mph on contact, both signs of too much hittable damage when batters connect.
This appearance came after the Royals had officially optioned Bergert to Triple-A Omaha. Bergert is likely to be one of the first starters called upon if the Royals need another arm in the rotation.
Isaac Collins
Collins will be hoping to move past this spring as he is still looking to hit his stride with the Royals. After another hitless performance on Friday, Collins’ spring batting average dropped to .087 in 26 plate appearances. He did manage to draw his third walk of spring.
When he is able to make contact, he has been hitting the ball hard this spring with an above-average exit velocity of 91.6 mph. However, he has not been able to avoid striking out with 10 strikeouts so far this spring.
Collins has featured in multiple editions of “Spring Temperature Check”, so his lack of production has been well documented. He is likely still recovering from both his offseason knee injections and a back issue that kept him sidelined for a few days this spring.
Time is running out to get meaningful reps in before the season starts. While it’s not time to panic quite yet, the Royals will certainly be monitoring his health and performance closely as the season gets underway on Thursday.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalskeep.com ’
