SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Royals have increased their win percentage over the past three years, but they have yet to get back to who they want to be as a club: Contenders.
Improving this year and in the next few are crucial to reaching that goal. After a 74-88 record last season, Kansas City’s improvement in 2022 will largely be based on the development of its young players. Potential must turn into reality.
“We’ve been talking about potential for years,” Whit Merrifield said. “We’ve got a lot of players that, if they can play up to their potential, we can do a lot of good things. We’ve had injuries and down years, which are going to happen, but we just got to do it. We got to go out and win. And we can, we just haven’t done it yet. I’m tired of talking about our potential, and I’m ready to win some games.”
That starts Thursday when the Royals host the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium for Opening Day. Here’s what to expect in 2022:
What needs to go right?
How about pitching, pitching and more pitching? The Royals made a significant step forward last season in getting several young pitching prospects from the 2018 MLB Draft to the Majors. Brady Singer and Kris Bubic had debuted in 2020. Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar and Jonathan Heasley were all promoted in ’21. Add in Brad Keller and Carlos Hernández, and the Royals believe they have several starters of their future ready to make an impact.
The next step is turning that potential impact into winning games….