Can the Royals’ Eric Hosmer turn 2015 into a seasonlong October encore?

The wake lasted two days in a downtown hotel. Eric Hosmer had booked a room through the weekend at the Marriott on 12th Street in Kansas City. In his mind he mapped a schedule for the Royals during the final week of October: Win game seven at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday, parade through the city’s streets on Friday and bask in the glow of Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.

The left arm of Madison Bumgarner dashed the dream. Instead Hosmer lingered in his room, unable to book a flight away from the stage of his greatest professional triumph, unwilling to show his face to the public. He skipped a postseason rally on Thursday morning. He feared he would weep in front of the fans.

“I couldn’t look anybody in the eye,” Hosmer said. “There was a feeling like I let people down. We just knew that we were going to win. We knew it was going to happen.”

He was wrong, yet he could not believe he was wrong. Inside the hotel, disbelief mingled with nostalgia. Hosmer huddled with close friends Jarrod Dyson and Johnny Giavotella. The players described themselves as heartbroken. The atmosphere was “pure hell,” Dyson said, broken up only by reminiscing about the joy from the previous month. They reviewed all that had led them to game seven. They dreamed of a better ending to 2015.

Hosmer flew home that weekend. A few days later, he began lifting weights in the gym he commissioned in his home near Florida’s Everglades. He prepared for the route back to October even as he mourned the season just passed. He emerged from this winter with 10 pounds of muscle added to his 6-foot-4 frame and a wealth of confidence as he prepares to answer the most pressing question facing the club in 2015: Is Eric Hosmer capable of replicating his October for an entire season?

The answer holds long-term ramifications for the Royals, who control Hosmer through the 2017 season and could lose two-time All-Star Alex Gordon to free agency after this year. At 25, Hosmer appears set to enter the prime of his career. He is the rare first baseman with enough athleticism to play the outfield. He wields power to all fields. Royals officials rave about his aptitude for the game. He carries himself as polished, personable and professional — the ideal public persona for a face of the franchise.

His trophy case already includes a pair of Gold Glove awards. His performance in October reminded observers of his potential. His .351 batting average and .983 on-base plus slugging percentage paced the offense all month.

“The ceiling for Hos is very high,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “It’s unlimited.”

Added third baseman Mike Moustakas, “He’s only shown the tip of the iceberg.”

It is this reality that gives would-be believers pause. In four big-league seasons, Hosmer has never merited All-Star consideration. He has never hit 20 home runs. He has never driven in 80 runs. His .716 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2014 ranked 89th among the 146 players who qualified for the batting title. The knowledge chafes at him.

“I think I can be a really good player, man,” Hosmer said. “The power numbers, I think I have a lot more than what they show. I think I have the ability to be a leader on a team. I think I have the ability to carry the team throughout the postseason — and throughout the season.”

He fulfilled that first task last season. Hosmer engineered some of October’s signature moments. His 12th-inning triple in the AL Wild Card Game resuscitated the Royals’ season. His 11th-inning homer in the second game of the next round silenced a stadium in Southern California and awakened a nation to his club’s charms. He showered fans with champagne at postgame bashes in his city’s Power & Light District.

The exposure expanded his fame and shattered any hopes of future anonymity. As a younger player, Hosmer sometimes worried he might develop a reputation as a night owl. Now he wonders how often he can go out at all. One night in October, he walked into Gram & Dun on Country Club Plaza with Dyson. The diners showered the duo with a standing ovation. A similar uproar greets Hosmer in other locales.

“I don’t want to sound like (a jerk) saying it, but it’s literally like every person in there wants a picture, wants something,” Hosmer said. “We don’t mind that, obviously. We think that’s amazing. But after a lot of it, you’re just like ‘Wow, man. I really just can’t go out here anymore. I can’t do anything.’”

He has become the biggest fish in one of baseball’s smallest ponds. Men ask their barbers for “The Hos,” his modified Mohawk. Women inundate his Instagram account with messages. Hosmer is the city’s most eligible bachelor, and he plans to retain this crown. He says he does not intend to pursue a serious romantic relationship until he retires.

His cell-phone digits shuffle as if plucked from a random number generator. His teammates often wonder how to contact him. Angels star Mike Trout spotted Hosmer sharing the stands at a Phoenix Suns game earlier this month. Hosmer did not acknowledge Trout’s flurry of texts. When they bumped into each other days later, Hosmer apologized. The influx of inquiries he received during the playoffs overwhelmed him.

“You don’t have to change your number?” Hosmer asked the reigning American League Most Valuable Player.

Scouts once expected Hosmer to share the exalted status of a player like Trout. The Royals selected Hosmer with the third pick of the 2008 draft. His $6 million bonus set a franchise record. Baseball America ranked him the game’s No. 8 prospect before the 2011 season.

Hosmer swatted 19 homers during that abbreviated rookie campaign. He has yet to match this total. Turbulence has colored his career. He suffered regression in 2012, compensated for a miserable start in 2013 with a torrid second half, but then slumped again to open 2014. Scouts considered him his own worst enemy at the plate, allowing his swing to dissolve into a muddle of moving parts that upset his timing.

On July 31, just as Hosmer was heating up, Jon Lester broke his hand with a wayward fastball and sidelined him for a month. The period proved pivotal to his development, Royals officials said. Coaches including Pedro Grifol reminded Hosmer that a fruitful October could erase the bitterness of the season. Hitting coach Dale Sveum offered video instruction during games. He queued up footage of fearsome sluggers such as Jose Abreu, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez to demonstrate the uniformity of their swing path.

They all look the same, Hosmer realized. They do not attempt to generate power with their arms and legs. They let their hands do the damage. Sveum preached a similar mantra: Swing quick, not hard.

Hosmer followed the advice upon his return in September. He reduced the noise in his swing and shortened the right leg kick he executes as a timing mechanism. His 15-game onslaught in October fortified this approach in his mind. Here in Surprise, Sveum can sense the calmness in Hosmer’s swing and the brightness of his future.

“His hands are incredible,” Sveum said. “(Last week) he hit a ball 400-plus feet. He got fooled on a changeup. And he was still able to finish his swing with his hands, and the ball still goes plenty far. You don’t need your body when you have hands like that.”

On Friday morning, a hundred fans piled into the bleachers along the left-field line of George Brett Field to watch the Royals taking batting practice. Behind the plate, the Saints of San Diego pressed their noses against the fence. Mike Sweeney sponsors this baseball academy for elementary school kids. The boys formed an awestruck chorus as Hosmer powered a parabola toward right field.

The ball sailed on a route not unlike that homer in Anaheim. It collided with a light tower beyond the fence. The boys yelped their approval upon its landing.

“Ay, papa!” Salvador Perez said from the on-deck circle.

“All day,” Lorenzo Cain shouted from third base. “You got a cheering section!”

Hosmer unleashed another drive to left. The chorus erupted again.

“Get out of here,” one tinny voice cried. “That’s out!”

In these moments, Hosmer looks the part. He resembles a man ready for the spotlight. Within the Royals organization resides the belief that October forged a player prepared for a full season of stardom.

At some point this winter, as he clanged weights inside a gym built by his potential, Hosmer stopped wondering when the pain from the World Series would fade. He understands it will linger with him. The only prescription resides in the next seven months. No longer does he mourn game seven. But he hasn’t soon forgotten it.

“It wasn’t supposed to end like that,” Hosmer said. “We were supposed to win it. That’s what you look forward to for this year. Because there’s got to be a different ending to that story.”

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This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Can the Royals’ Eric Hosmer turn 2015 into a seasonlong October encore?."