The Kansas City Royals are doing well in baseball, and it’s not just because they’re a small team trying to make the postseason or because Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the brightest young stars in the game.
No, the Royals are good for baseball because they are a shining example of what every organization in professional baseball should do: work hard.
As you may recall, the Royals spent nearly $110 million on free agents this winter. The moves were well-received but didn’t make national headlines. They didn’t spend $500 million on two players. Like the Texas Rangers Before 2022, they didn’t win the Shohei Ohtani prize draw.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last year, wanted to get better quickly. They realized that player development and amateur scouting alone were not enough, so they aggressively added more than six players to their roster through free agency. Now, they are already on the verge of a championship season and are probably on the verge of clinching a postseason spot as early as this week.
Revolutionary? Almost. Rare? Very rare in today’s games.
““Don’t you have to hit them in the head sometimes?” Royals owner John Sherman, who authorized the spending, told reporters this spring. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but for the fans, we can’t allow that to happen again.”
Any owner can afford an offseason like the Royals had. They were aggressive without being stupid, adding again at the trade deadline and via the waiver wire last month. But few have done so.
MLB has added several measures to combat the sport’s downturn, but getting teams to keep trying, front offices to take risks and owners to open their wallets is another matter entirely.
Royals vice president and general manager JJ Piccolo has set his operation apart from other teams. (Mark J. Revillas/Emaginez)
Witt’s other-worldly season (he’ll easily top 10 fWAR) would have made him the American League MVP if not for Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. It also came after the spring when Sherman approved an 11-year, $288.8 million extension for the Royals’ young star, which could be worth up to $377 million over 14 years when all is said and done. It’s the most lucrative deal in franchise history.
Again, if Kansas City, one of the smallest markets in baseball, can do it, why can’t others?
While other teams have trimmed departments and cut staff (last week, league sources said six teams had cut scouting and player development or “restructured” their front offices to make them more efficient), the Royals have added infrastructure. In the two years since J.J. Picollo, the executive vice president of baseball operations, took over, Kansas City has reorganized all three scouting departments with new leaders, modernized the organization and changed the culture. The Royals have added six new people to their research and development team, including a new director, with an emphasis on data. They’ve folded it by hiring people with traditional baseball resumes but open minds.
Promoted internally when Dayton Moore was fired, Piccolo didn’t hesitate to hire an outsider, like Matt Quatraro, a manager with whom he had no previous relationship. Quatraro, like Piccolo, is widely credited with leading the turnaround and bringing a curious mind and a willingness to innovate. These aren’t two hotshot young Ivy League graduates leading the way. Both played minor league baseball and are in their 50s.
Perhaps the new market efficiency is to do something a little different when others are zigzagging, even if it is not always in new territory. These royals are also masters of the basics, despite all their successful efforts to modernize.
Only the San Diego Padres’ lineup has a lower strikeout rate, and Kansas City ranks as one of the league’s best defenses, which has helped bolster their solid pitching staff.
From the first day of last offseason, the Royals targeted pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. Not because they were the best players (they weren’t) or because neither pitcher had a 200-strikeout season (neither pitcher has had a 200-strikeout season), but because they fit a certain mold. Lugo was an All-Star and earned the Cy Young Award despite a rare Monday outing, while Wacha is 9-1 with a 2.67 ERA and a 71:20 walk-to-kickout ratio since the beginning of July.
Leading 52-45 at the start of the second half, Piccolo and his team didn’t wait around to see which way the team would go, as many other clubs have done. Instead, they moved quickly once again, unafraid to double down when some of their offseason relief options didn’t pan out. Kansas City acquired Hunter Harvey from Washington two weeks before the deadline and acquired Lucas Erzeg, swingman Michael Lorenzen and infielder Paul DeJong from Oakland.
When first baseman Vinny Pasquantino went down, Piccolo added three players to waivers to fill the void: Yuri Gurriel, Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman. The cost was cash. The reward was immediate. The Royals targeted Pham and Grossman at the deadline but failed to secure either. The group could help several clubs ahead of Kansas City in the waiver order. No one else jumped in.
Not every move the Royals have made has been successful. But like their lineup, the Royals front office has a pretty low whiff rate. And Kansas City’s model of catching the Baltimore Orioles and vying for the wild card spot has proven to be a good one.
It’s a good thing for a city that hasn’t had a playoff team since the 2015 World Series champions. It’s better for baseball.
(Top photo of Bobby Witt Jr. celebrating the win with teammates: Jay Biggerstaff / Imagn Images)
