Royals remain comfortable with Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando in right field

One year ago, in the months after a World Series championship, the Royals’ brain trust charted the course for the offseason and outlined a plan for its three outfield spots.

The club would elect to let Alex Rios walk into free agency and insert a combination of Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando in right field. The maneuver would free up money to re-sign left fielder Alex Gordon to a four-year, $72 million deal.

The gambit would offer mixed results in 2016 — Dyson and Orlando delivered stellar defense and serviceable production while Gordon struggled mightily under the weight of a new contract. But for the moment, Royals general manager Dayton Moore appears poised to maintain the status quo in his outfield, utilizing an alignment that would feature Dyson and Orlando drawing most of the starts in the third outfield spot.

“I feel real comfortable (with that),” Moore said Wednesday, during a brief interview session at the annual GM meetings. “Just because they fit our ballpark. And I think we know what to expect. They’re extremely quality defenders.”

The rest of the outfield will likely play to script, barring some unforeseen offseason deal. Gordon is slated to return in left field, while Lorenzo Cain will enter his final season before free agency. As they sort through roster possibilities, the Royals are banking on a bounce-back season from Gordon and hoping that Cain’s legs remain healthy enough for him to patrol center field.

That leaves right field, where the Royals still believe some combination of Dyson and Orlando can make sense — both fiscally and performance-wise.

“We made a decision last year that we weren’t going to sign Alex Rios and give Paulo and Dyson an opportunity,” Moore said. “And I think that paid off.”

For the most part, the numbers support the claim. In his second season, Orlando batted .302 with a .329 on-base percentage and a .734 OPS in 128 games. It’s worth pointing out that some of that batting average was inflated by a perhaps unsustainable “batting average on balls in play” (.380).

In addition, Orlando also clubbed just five homers while striking out 105 times against 13 walks. But buoyed by solid defense, he was worth 1.6 Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs’ version of the statistic.

Dyson offered similar production. After shaking off an oblique strain during spring training, he finished the season with a torrid September and early October, hitting .377 during the season’s final month. For the year, Dyson batted .278 with a .340 on-base percentage and a team-high 30 stolen bases while also filling in for Cain in center field.

On defense, Dyson was even better. According to FanGraphs’ Defensive Runs Above Average, he rated as the third-best defensive center fielder in baseball behind Toronto’s Kevin Pillar and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier. (Cain ranked fourth in the statistic.) According to FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement — which encompasses offense, defense and base running — he was the Royals’ most valuable player.

That latter fact can perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. Much of Dyson’s value stems from his defensive numbers, which can be unreliable in small sample sizes. And regulars Cain, Gordon and Mike Moustakas all missed significant time with injury, limiting their overall WAR.

But as the left-handed hitting Dyson, 32, enters his final season of salary arbitration — he made $3.45 million last season — the Royals still feel comfortable with him and the right-handed hitting Orlando logging regular time in the outfield.

“They’re exceptional defenders,” Moore said. “And I think offensively they’ll continue to show strides and get better.”

While the club extols the virtues of Dyson and Orlando, Moore said it will also keep an eye on prospect Jorge Bonifacio, a 23-year-old who hit .277 with 19 homers at Class AAA Omaha, and Hunter Dozier, the former first-round pick who compiled 23 homers and 44 doubles while splitting time at Omaha and Class AA Northwest Arkansas last season.

Dozier, a former college shortstop who debuted in September, can also play third base and first base. His path to a role with the big-league club in 2017 will likely hinge on his bat.

“With players like him, it’s all predicated on the bat,” Moore said. “When their bat is ready. When that occurs, he’ll get himself a shot to play every day.”

The Royals, of course, could also elect to give Cain more time in right field as a way to keep his legs fresh, a strategy used after the former All-Star returned from a hamstring strain in late July.

“He could play some right field,” Moore said. “But we also believe that Lorenzo is an All-Star center fielder, so it just depends on how we put our team together.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Royals remain comfortable with Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando in right field."