2012 Kansas City Royals Team Report: Can the Boys in Blue Keep Up the Pace?

In the first weeks of March the boys of summer will take the spring training field for another season of Royals baseball. The Royals may not have signed Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder, but a couple savvy pitching moves as well as a young talented offense may make the Royals contenders in the AL Central this year.

Key Additions

Jonathan Broxton is a gamble, but if he can get back into form, the Royals will have hit the jackpot. Broxton underwent elbow surgery during the off-season after having a horrific injury plagued year in 2011. In fact Broxton didn’t have a great 2010 either, putting up a 4.04 ERA as a closer. Sounds horrible unless you ever saw Broxton when he was on top of his game. In 2009 for example, Broxton had 36 saves, a 2.61 ERA, and a 0.96 WHIP. The question still remains, which version of Broxton will the Royals get?

Kevin Kouzmanoff was signed to a minor league contract. I know what you’re thinking, how can a minor leaguer be a key addition? Simple, going into spring camp Mike Moustakas is listed as the only third baseman on the depth chart. If Moustakas goes into a slump or gets injured Kouzmanoff will provide the team with an experienced MLB veteran to fill that position.

Catcher Salvador Perez is also worth mentioning in this category. He is not a new acquisition, but this will be the highly touted prospect’s first year starting with the big team. Perez is a monstrous power hitting catcher who notched a .331 batting average in 39 games last year.

Key Loss

Melky Cabrera will be missed in center field. The milk man was traded to the Giants in the off-season. It’s difficult to replace an experienced .300 hitter. That is, unless you have a young .300 hitter. Melky will likely be replaced in center by Lorenzo Cain. He only played six games at the major league level last year but in 2010 with the Brewers, Cain batted .306 and had 45 hits in 43 games played. The Royals have always been masters at developing young talent and hopefully Cain will be another such success story.

Depth Chart

DH: Billy Butler

Catcher: Salvador Perez

First Base: Eric Hosmer

Second Base: Johnny Giavotella

Third Base: Mike Moustakas

Shortstop: Alcides Escobar

Left Field: Alex Gordon

Right Field: Jeff Francoeur

Center Field: Lorenzo Cain

Pitching

Most of the Royals offensive players hit for over .300 last season, which leaves the team with a pretty good offensive outlook, on paper at least. The million dollar question for the Royals this year will be how effective they are in preventing runs.

Felipe Paulino will be a wild card for the Royals this year. After being traded from the Rockies last year Paulino pitched 21 games with 4 wins and 6 losses and a 4.11 ERA. His numbers were not bad across the board but he will definitely need to pick things up in the wins category if he wants to get to the top of the rotation.

The big lefty Bruce Chen will be counted on to put in some quality starts as well. Chen had 12 wins with a 3.77 ERA last year. Chen will be thirty-six years old in June, so factors such as his health and stamina may come into play as the dog-days of summer wear on.

Last year Luke Hochevar only had 11 wins but his strikeout to walk ratio was 128/62 and he had a WHIP of 1.28. From the numbers Hochevar looks like a good hard strikeout pitcher. Like the rest of the pitching staff, he will need defense to back him up.

Kristian Eberwein is a sports writer and lifetime resident of Central Florida.


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