Royals manager Ned Yost: The young guys will play in season’s final six weeks

For four-plus seasons, filling out a lineup card was a relatively easy chore for Royals manager Ned Yost. There was a consistency to the nine names, even if they occasionally changed order.

That has slowly evaporated in 2018. The players, the order and their defensive positioning are defined more by flux, and Yost has no plans to provide more regularity to it.

In fact, if there will be one consistency over the final six weeks of the season, it will be this: The young guys will play. And they will be shuffled around the diamond.

“We try to win every night, but I try to win every night with my young guys,” Yost said. “I am not going to limit their exposure on their opportunity to gain experience.”

Among the younger players, Adalberto Mondesi has seen the most noticeable bump in playing time. Mondesi started Thursday for the ninth time in the past 10 games, though in his case, it’s not just his age (23) and potentially bright future that plays a factor in his inclusion — his production has warranted it, too. Even after back-to-back hitless nights, he still has a .765 on-base-plus-slugging percentage during that stretch.

But even players who aren’t producing at Mondesi’s rate will continue to receive opportunities, Yost said. He cited a statistic Thursday afternoon in which Hunter Dozier has only four hits in 46 at-bats with runners in scoring position, an .087 batting average. In past seasons, with the Royals in contention for a playoff spot, Yost would have turned elsewhere. Not now.

“That’s not going to stop me from playing him and letting him work through that,” Yost said. “He needs to play. They all need to play. We’re trying to massage it so that everybody’s getting their playing time.”

That might change in September, when Yost has said he will feel an obligation to put out his best possible lineup against teams in the midst of playoff races.

But for now, the objective is to prepare for the future but offering players experience, which comes in situations other than plate appearances.

Rosell Herrera will continue to rotate around the field, alternating between second base, third base and the outfield. The Royals not only want to keep his bat in the lineup — he had three hits in Thursday’s late win — they want to test him in the field.

To that end, Yost will play Dozier some at first base in addition to his preferred position at third, though he said Dozier is starting to become more comfortable playing third at the major-league level. On Wednesday, Yost even considered playing Ryan O’Hearn in left field and moving Alex Gordon to right.

“Moving guys around,” Yost said. “We’ll continue to evaluate to see which guys can handle what spots.”