The Kansas City Royals have plenty to be excited about this spring, with several names thriving (some if which haven’t been entirely expected). However, like any team, while some names are showing success, others are haven’t provided nearly as much to get excited about.
Then, there’s names seemingly in a confusing no-mans land, where fans don’t know how exactly to feel. For the Royals this spring, that name has undoubtedly been hopeful bounce-back candidate Jonathan India.
India didn’t turn out to be the leadoff catalyst the Royals had hoped for in 2025, however, there were certain aspects of his game that still had promise.
And so far, through spring training, it appears to be much of the same, which will surely make Royals fans even more uneasy about the $8 million commitment they made to him for the 2026 season.
Confusing spring training start won’t ease the minds of Royals fans regarding Jonathan India commitment
India was a regular leadoff fixture in Cincinnati’s lineup before joining the Royals, so the hope was obviously to take the same role in Kansas City.
However, a .233 AVG, .669 OPS and 89 wRC+ wasn’t enough to meet the team’s expectations for him and they eventually moved him down in the order shortly after their trade deadline acquisition of the now departed Mike Yastrzemski.
So far in spring training, one hit through 13 plate appearances entering Tuesday’s exhibition against Team Cuba has his both his AVG and SLG at a minuscule .125. Not very leadoff worthy.
However, what does make him an enticing lineup option has been his plate discipline. For the past three seasons, India has held an OBP at least 90 points higher than his average.
And last season in particular, on-top of a respectable AVG-to-OBP gap, his exceptional 97th percentile chase rate and well above-average 77th percentile whiff rate proved that at least there was one aspect to his game that made him a valued member to a lineup.
So far this spring, while the AVG and SLG may be low, his OBP sits at .462 and his walk rate sits at 30.8% and his K-rate at just 15.4%.
All in all, he holds a 110 wRC+ this spring. Above-average, but when you put it into context, spring training doesn’t offer the greatest competition compared to the regular season, so the hope would be that someone like India would be performing a lot better than slightly above-average – especially given the fact he desperately needs a bounce-back.
It also doesn’t help that his positional competition at second base, Michael Massey, is cruising along right now, slashing .471/.526/.706 with a 223 wRC+.
Is there enough time for India to become a more rounded hitter again? Absolutely, especially with opportunities growing several Royals players off to the World Baseball Classic.
That being said though, through nearly two weeks of spring training action, his numbers aren’t exactly mind-easing and if he’s to be the starting second baseman, let alone a leadoff option, the Royals have been hoping he’d be, that is going to have to change fast.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
