Do you remember when the Royals won games by using the small ball method? I believe they need to get back to that. I love watching teams hit home runs like the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees and many others, but that doesn’t work for every team in the majors. Do you remember when the Royals were a dominant force in baseball? Back in 2014 and 2015, the Royals acquired and signed players like Alcides Escobar and Jarrod Dyson. If you watched Dyson and Escobar play, you know they didn’t hit for power. Escobar I believe is the best example of Royals type of baseball. Almost every time he was up to bat, he put the ball in play. Now heading into 2021, the Royals need to add a player that can hit and can run, not hit for power. There are many players that are available on the open market that have speed and can put the ball in play, but I don’t think the Royals need to add players from the free agent market that can put the ball in play. I know for a fact that the Royals have plenty of players who have speed in the organization. The most notable one is Adalberto Mondesi. I am not a strong believer in the young shortstop defensively or even offensively, but I still think he could help the Royals. To start off, I would put Mondesi in the lead off spot, like they did with Escobar who always put the ball in play. Next, I would put Bubba Starling in the second spot to get on base or advance the runner. The third spot I would give to Kelvin Gutiérrez until his power develops. Until then, I would expect him to be able to put the ball in play to score a run or load the bases for either Jorge Soler or Hunter Dozier to hit a home run, or just simply put the ball in play to score the runs. If you watched Royals baseball from 2012-15, you saw them wear out opposing teams pitching staffs by scoring runs in bunches with speed on the base pads. I believe the Royals could take advantage of the shift when other teams are on defense thanks to an opening in the infield. I believe the Royals future is bright with the speed of Adalberto Mondesi, Bubba Starling, Nick Heath, and Kevin Merrell.
