The 2025 season was a mixed bag for the Royals. They hung around .500 most of the year, played meaningful baseball into September, and were in the Wild Card race most of the summer. However, they never seriously challenged for a playoff spot and took a step backwards from their 2024 performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We had our writers discuss some of what went wrong<\/a>, and Jeremy Greco also did a great job dissecting why the Royals aren\u2019t playing postseason baseball<\/a>. I thought I\u2019d take a look at the numbers that defined the 2025 Royals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This was the wRC+ of Royals outfielders this year, as they hit .225\/.285\/.348 overall, worst in baseball by a good margin. The Royals began the season with MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe flanking glove man Kyle Isbel in center. But by mid-May, Melendez was in the minors and Renfroe was in the unemployment line. The Royals were left scrambling for options in the outfield to replace them – Mark Canha, Drew Waters, Jonathan India, John Rave, Jac Caglianone. It wasn\u2019t until the trade deadline that they acquired Adam Frazier, Mike Yastrzemski, and Randall Grichuk and stabilized the outfield production a bit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals won just eight games in June, their worst month of the season. In fact, they had a winning record in every month except September, when they went 12-13. It was admittedly a tough schedule with games against the Yankees and Dodgers. But the Royals blew opportunities against easier teams, dropping two of three on the road against the White Sox, and getting swept at home by the Athletics. The team hit just .237\/.291\/.374 that month, were shut out four times, and averaged just 3.3 runs per game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals have traditionally never been a team to draw a walk, and that continued this year. They finished with the second-lowest walk rate in baseball. Their approach was difficult to figure out. The team led the league in the highest percentage of takes on the first pitch<\/a>. They decreased their swing rate over the year, getting a bit more selective – they finished with a below-average swing rate<\/a>. They also improved their chase rate, finishing in the middle of the pack<\/a>. And yet the walks didn\u2019t come. Jonathan India experienced a sharp decline in his walk rate, and Vinnie Pasquantino has seen a much lower rate the last two seasons than he did in his first two. The team just doesn\u2019t take free passes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals hit just .218 on flyballs, worst in baseball<\/a>. So it didn\u2019t help that they hit flyballs 41.7 percent of the time, the third-highest rate in baseball<\/a>. There are certainly players you want hitting the ball in the air – Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez, Jac Caglianone. But for a lot of hitters, it just didn\u2019t work. Drew Waters hit .162 on flyballs with a 46 percent flyball rate. John Rave hit .115 on flyballs with a 52 percent flyball rate. Kyle Isbel hit .212 on flyballs with a 48.8 percent flyball rate. Different hitters will need to take different approaches next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you look at Cole Ragans\u2019 4.67 ERA, you won\u2019t be impressed. He missed half of the season with a rotator cuff strain, so this season will be viewed as a disappointment. But if you look closer at the numbers, you realize how fantastic Ragans was when healthy. He struck out 38.1 percent of all the batters he faced. The only pitcher in baseball with at least 50 innings who had a higher strikeout rate was All-Star reliever Mason Miller. Ragans had a FIP of 2.50, 15th-lowest in baseball, just behind Tarik Skubal\u2019s 2.45.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Royals baserunners were picked off 21 times this year, most in baseball. Maikel Garcia led all of baseball by being picked off seven times. They were caught stealing 28 percent of the time – only Colorado baserunners were worse. Only 28 percent of Royals baserunners<\/a> would come around to score – only the Pirates were worse. The Royals typically pride themselves on having fast players who wreak havoc on the bases, with good situational hitting to drive them home. But even J.J. Picollo admitted that baserunning was an \u201cunforced error\u201d this year, and something the team will need to improve on for next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals bullpen was a major issue early in 2024, but since then, they have been nails. They blew just 20 saves all year, the third-fewest in baseball<\/a>. They were the only team in baseball not to lose a game in which they carried a lead into the ninth<\/a>. Royals relievers allowed just 27 percent of inherited runners to score, tied for the third-lowest mark in baseball. Carlos Est\u00e9vez turned out to be a shrewd signing, leading all of baseball in saves. Lucas Erceg had some setbacks but was still very solid much of the year, and Taylor Clarke, Daniel Lynch IV, and Steven Cruz emerged as solid middle relief options. The Royals had the seventh-lowest bullpen ERA, and have quickly turned a weakness into a strength.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There was much hope that Jac Caglianone could be the offensive jump start the Royals needed for their lineup. He was absolutely destroying the minors, hitting .322\/.389\/.593 with 15 home runs in 50 games before being promoted to the big leagues. But he struggled against big league pitching, batting just .157 with the Royals. His .532 OPS is the fourth-lowest by an outfielder in his debut season<\/a> since World War II. There is a lot to like about his underlying metrics – he hit the ball hard, he didn\u2019t strike out that much. That leaves hope for significant improvement next year, but no question this year was a disappointment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s the number of days Royals pitchers in the starting rotation to begin the year – Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic, Michael Lorenzen, and Michael Wacha – spent on the Injured list. And that\u2019s not including Kyle Wright and Alec Marsh, who missed the entire season due to a number of injuries. Every team suffers through injuries, but the Royals are heavily dependent on their starting pitchers. Fortunately, the team was able to add reinforcements at the deadline with the acquisitions of Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, and Bailey Falter. Despite the injuries, the Royals finished seventh in baseball in starting pitcher ERA at 3.80.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals acquired Jonathan India to be the table-setter for the lineup. He came into this season with a career .352 on-base percentage, and seemed to be a perfect fit as a leadoff hitter. But he didn\u2019t adapt well to a positional switch early in the year that was quickly abandoned. His power also cratered away from the cozy confines of Great American Ballpark. He was also the worst defender in baseball<\/a>, by Outs Above Average. That totals up to a very disappointing -0.3 fWAR season for India, the fourth-worst in baseball among qualified hitters. He could rebound next year, but it\u2019s hard to see that trade as a successful one after year one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bobby Witt Jr. led all of baseball in Outs Above Average at +25<\/a> and should be considered a favorite for his first Platinum Glove. The player who struggled defensively as a rookie has now emerged as the best defender in baseball. Oh, and he happens to be one of the most dynamic hitters in the game as well! Bobby may have not been as amazing as he was last year, but he still finished third in baseball in fWAR<\/a> at 8.0, an incredible performance by any other standard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n