Fantasy baseball: 2020 Kansas City Royals fantasy preview
By Mike Marteny
2020 Kansas City Royals projected starting lineup:
Whit Merrifield, CF (.302, 16 HR, 74 RBI, 20 SB in 681 AB)
Adalberto Mondesi, SS (.263, 9 HR, 62 RBI, 43 SB in 415 AB)
Jorge Soler, DH (.265, 48 HR, 117 RBI, 3 SB in 589 AB)
Hunter Dozier, RF (.279, 26 HR, 84 RBI, 2 SB in 523 AB)
Alex Gordon, LF (.266, 13 HR, 76 RBI, 5 SB in 556 AB)
Salvador Perez, C (.235, 27 HR, 80 RBI, 1 SB in 510 AB in 2018)
Ryan O’Hearn, 1B (.195, 14 HR, 38 RBI, 0 SB in 328 AB)
Maikel Franco, 3B (.234, 17 HR, 56 RBI, 0 SB in 389 AB with PHI)
Nicky Lopez, 2B (.240, 2 HR, 30 RBI, 1 SB in 379 AB)
The first thing you notice about the Royals is that this lineup is pretty loaded for winning less than 60 games last year. The addition of Franco adds even more power. Due to the amount of power in this lineup, there are a lot of guys worth a look.
Both Merrifield and Soler played every game last season. Merrifield wont be as enticing since he is only eligible in the OF this year, but 20/20 players are hard to come by. Especially 20/20 players that hit .300. Merrifield is still a great addition as you second outfielder. Soler’s raw power may have him going higher than Merrifield, but the average hurts a little.
If you miss on Soler, Dozier is a solid consolation prize and he is still eligible at 3B for at least the first part of the season. Once that wears off the value will dip a little, but probably not enough for you to be concerned with where you drafted him. Nothing says that Dozier wont be a top-100 player again.
The only real question mark here is the health of Salvador Perez after missing all of 2019 after Tommy John surgery. Still, Perez slugged 27 homers in 2018 despite missing the first month of the season. He might have the most power of any catcher out there and is worth taking as the third catcher off the board. You may be able to get him as cheap as the fifth though. It all depends on how you feel about the injury.
Mondesi is a guy that could lead the league in steals and triples. If you are in a 10×10 league or any league that counts triples, he’s worth considerably more. Last year Mondesi didn’t hurt you with the average either. He’s a great guy to nab in the 50’s range if you loaded up on power early.
I’ve always been an Alex Gordon fan even though he’s pretty basic when it comes to fantasy baseball. Still, all of his stats are solid and if your league counts something like OF assists, Gordon has sneaky value.
A big spring leaves hope for O’Hearn. It was a rough half-season last year for him, but if the hot spring keeps up once the regular season gets going, he could be a steal at the end of drafts.
Prospects to watch:
Most of the Royals’ hitting prospects are already in the majors. Both Cheslor Cuthbert and Bubba Starling have promise, but they have mostly struggled in the majors. The luster has worn off of both of them, especially Cuthbert. At this point I wouldn’t stash either of them. However, if Starling can translate his hot spring into the regular season, we could see Whit back at 2B and Bubba patrolling center.
It is at the point now where Kelvin Gutierrez has probably surpassed Cuthbert. Still, the addition of Franco blocks both Cuthbert and Gutierrez at the hot corner. Gutierriez will be a nice waiver pluck if someone goes down, but until then, he has no path to playing time.