Martin Maldonado’s bat could help spark bottom of Royals’ lineup
Martin Maldonado’s defensive prowess as a catcher makes it easy to take his bat for granted. After all, the prevailing opinion when the Royals signed Maldonado was that his ability to work with a pitching staff far outweighed anything they’d get from him offensively.
Salvador Perez’s season-ending elbow surgery forced folks to adjust their expectations for that spot. But Sunday’s win over the New York Yankees provided an example of just how important contributions from the bottom third of the Royals lineup can be on a given day.
With Ryan O’Hearn not playing regularly against left-handed pitchers and Billy Hamilton’s playing time depending on whether Whit Merrifield is in center or right field, Maldonado becomes the true mainstay in that portion of the batting order.
“It’s kinda been a trend for us a little bit,” Royals manager Ned Yost said following Sunday’s win against the Yankees. “If the bottom of our order gets on, we kinda find ways to score runs.”
Entering Sunday, the seventh spot in the Royals batting order had batted .199 with a .251 on-base percentage and a .306 slugging percentage, while the eighth spot in the lineup had posted a slash line of .197/.273/.236 and the nine hitters collectively produced a line of .209/.271/.279.
While the top and middle of the lineup certainly applied pressure and did damage against New York Yankees starter Domingo German on Sunday, the bottom third of the Royals’ lineup — O’Hearn, Maldonado and Billy Hamilton — peppered German for four hits (4-for-7), two home runs and four RBIs in five innings.
Maldonado’s three-run home run in the second inning started the scoring for the Royals. Maldonado jumped all over a breaking ball on the first pitch he saw in the game, and it carried over the wall in left-center field for a three-run home run.
Asked after the game if he’d gone up to the plate looking for that particular pitch, Maldonado replied with a sly grin and an intentionally vague non-denial: “Probably.”
Maldonado went 2-for-5 in the game, his third multi-hit game in his past seven starts (7-for-21) to go along with a pair of walks in that span. He’d had just one multi-hit contest in his first 33 games of the season. He entered Monday’s series opener in Chicago batting .205 with a .303 on-base percentage and a .283 slugging percentage.
The other factor with Maldonado that’s easily forgotten or overlooked is that from a hitting standpoint he got tossed into the deep end of the pool almost immediately because he went unsigned for almost the first month of spring training.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good. I made some adjustments mechanically. I’m trying to be as consistent as possible. It was kind of hard at the beginning. I didn’t have much spring training. There were some days I felt really good, and there were other days where I didn’t feel good at all. I think that was that stuff you go through in spring training.
“Normally, for me, I’m used to get between 70 and 80 at-bats in spring training. This year, I probably got 12. I think I was a little behind, my offensive side. I think I started figuring it out, got more regular at-bats and I started feeling more comfortable.”
This spring, Maldonado made 12 plate appearances (three walks) in Cactus League play in addition to any at-bats he saw in simulated games or on the minor-league side of camp.
Maldonado said the mechanical adjustments, including some tweaks to his batting stance, that came as a result of watching film of past at-bats from previous years along with input from hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol. Those minor changes have helped him see the ball better.
“I think anybody wants to go out there and perform,” Maldonado said of the bottom of the lineup. “As a team, I know we’ve been struggling a little bit, offensively, but as long as we’re having good at-bats, I think the hits are going to come. It’s a matter of time.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Martin Maldonado’s bat could help spark bottom of Royals’ lineup."
