Do you ever have to face a fact about yourself so true and yet you so don’t want it to be true that it takes awhile for you to fully process it? One of my oldest friends hit me with one of those facts this winter when he called me out as a “fan who enjoys when my teams suck and can’t actually enjoy when they actually win.” I’m not going to lie, that one stung a bit. I’ve definitely been that person in the past, and I’m actively trying to experience more fun around watching sports instead of just being miserable all the time over this thing that is supposed to bring enjoyment in our lives.
That said, I can’t deny that I’ve really enjoyed thinking about and writing this article that is fundamentally a negative one. The Kansas City Royals, right now, stink on offense! They have scored the third fewest runs in baseball, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies(who are somehow last in baseball in runs!). The team’s .581 OPS is only five points higher than Adam Frazier’s 2024 OPS of .576. We’ve got a full team of Fraziers, folks.
We are still very early in the season, and while it’s extremely frustrating that the team is in a collective slump, that doesn’t mean the Royals are doomed for another lost season. There are worrying signs among the hitters, some more than others. As a decently well-seasoned Royals fan, I’d like to think I’ve got my fair share of experience watching slumping hitters and can use some comparisons of previous Royals players to put the current Royals players struggles into perspective. So below, you will see my ratings on the official Royals Panic Level Scale:
Jonathan India: – .185/.303/.231, 62 wRC+
India was brought in to be the leadoff hitter this season, and is currently doing his best 2024 Maikel Garcia impersonation, so in that sense it’s working. To my amateur eyes, India’s still having good at bats, and the fact that he has 10 walks to only 9 strikeouts suggests the plate discipline is still there. This looks more like an unfortunately timed slump and power outage and I’m still willing to bet on India being a productive leadoff hitter this year once the hits start falling for him.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 1 out of 5 Neifi Perezes
Vinnie Pasquantino – .188/.269/.333, 68 wRC+
I first heard David Lesky bring this up on Kauffman Corner, but Vinnie is swinging at more pitches and missing at more pitches, both inside and outside the strike zone. His career contact percentage is 85.6%, his 2025 contact percentage is 77.2%. His 15.4% strikeout percentage is higher than his career average but is still a good number overall. Pasquantino has been an elite contact guy throughout his career and I like to bet on those guys to bounce back, but something just seems off with him right now and I think it’s related to his approach. I still would expect much better numbers from the first baseman, but I’m starting to wonder whether his rookie year really will be the best we see from him.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 2.5 out of 5 Mike Jacobses
Salvador Perez – .200/.259./.320, 65 wRC+
Salvy’s 26% strikeout rate is currently his highest than he’s ever finished a full season at, which is not the most encouraging sign for an aging player. Statcast data, however, really likes Perez’s current quality of contact; his xwOBA of .391 has him in the 84th percentile of hitters and looks much better than his current .261 wOBA. I’m willing to believe in the quality of contact that he’s making right now and bet that’s he’s still got it. Hopefully lots of these hard hit balls are going to start going over the wall or falling in for hits soon.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 1 out of 5 Jeff Francoeurs
Michael Massey – .206/.225/.250, 30 wRC+
You know you’re in the midst of a terrible funk when you have a three hit night and your wRC+ goes all the way up to 30. Statcast batting data for Massey is telling the opposite story of Perez; his wOBA of .212 is in line with his xWOBA of .226. He’s still making a lot of contact, but it’s almost all weak contact at the moment. Coupled with the fact that Massey has only drawn 1 walk this year and consistently has had a lower walk percentage than Salvy, and that’s a recipe for a player who has nothing to fall back on when the hits aren’t landing. It might be time to bust out the torpedo bat.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 3 out of 5 Chris Getzes
MJ Melendez – .085/.173/.170, -1 wRC+
There’s really not that much more to say about Melendez, he’s breaking the wRC+ scale with how bad he’s been. You want to give a guy reworking his swing more time, but this is just too bad to deal with. If he ever manages to unlock his power potential, it will need to be in Omaha or with another team.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 7 out of 5 Yuniesky Betancourts
Hunter Renfroe – .116/.224/.140, 10 wRC+
If you squint at the data for awhile you can talk yourselves into some positives with Renfroe. He’s cut down on pitches he’s swinging at outside the strike zone, his walk rate is strong, he’s still making contact with a good number of pitches. Renfore seems to be trying to elevate the ball, likely in an effort to hit for more power, but it’s not working. According to Statcast, he’s been under the ball on 44.8% of the time he’s made contact, well above his career average of 30.6% (MLB average is 24.8%). The outfielder has hit more infield fly balls (3) than line drives (2) this year. I’m not really interested in seeing if he can figure it out at, but with Mark Canha on the IL he’s likely going to get some more chances against southpaws.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 5 out of 5 Hunter Doziers
Cavan Biggio – .207/.324/.207, wRC+ 64
I know we don’t expect as much offensively from Biggio as the other players on this list, but they would clearly like him to play some and get the platoon advantage against right-handed pitchers. He’s continuing to show his ability to draw a walk, but zero extra base hits in 35 plate appearances isn’t gonna work. He’s certainly not the biggest problem but he’s also not part of the solution right now.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 2 out of 5 Chris Owingses
Freddy Fermin – .167/.231/.167, 16 wRC+
Fermin being able to hold his own at the plate the last two seasons has really helped the Royals, allowing them to play Perez at first and DH more, but so far this year he’s in the no extra base hits club with Biggio. Fermin has the opposite problem of Renfroe right now – he’s topped the ball 52.6% of the time compared to his career average of 34.8%. His groundball percantage of 61.1% would be excellent if he was a pitcher but is terrible as a hitter. Fermin has had a pretty small sample even compared to the rest of the team, so there’s still a lot of variance in his numbers.
Royals Panic Level Scale: 2 out of 5 Tony Pena Jrs
Shoutout to the Royals Review writing staff for helping me remember some of these guys. Please feel free to argue with my rankings or come up with some of your own for our slumping Royals hitters. If they are going to struggle so much than at least we can have some fun with it.
