Royals, Adalberto Mondesi still have sights set on opening day
The Kansas City Royals have asked all the reasonable questions and put their best and brightest on the case.
They’ve been tantalized and teased by Adalberto Mondesi’s potential and confounded by his misfortune with regard to injuries. They feel like if they somehow keep him healthy for an entire season, baseball will be in awe.
A member of the Royals organization since 2011, Mondesi still won’t turn 25 until July. A 6-foot-1, 190-pound five-tool player and switch-hitting shortstop, he’s a potential superstar.
But his seasons have regularly been truncated by injuries, such as last year’s left shoulder issues that necessitated two injured list stints on top of another for a groin strain. His season ended prematurely because of shoulder surgery.
Despite playing in only 102 games, the most of his career in the majors, Mondesi tied teammates Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier as well as Eduardo Escobar for the major league lead with 10 triples. Mondesi also ranked second in the majors with 43 stolen bases, and he became the first American League shortstop to register at least 10 triples, 40 steals and 60 RBIs in a season.
The fact that he’s missed significant time every year makes his exploits more enticing. He’s never played more than 125 games in a year, and that total came in the minors in 2013. Which means there’s an argument that he still has a lot of upside.
“There’s no maybe about it,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “And the key is a full season. We’ve yet to see a full major-league season of what this guy can do. He and I have had these conversations. This guy is special.
“You guys have watched it longer than I have, but, just watching the league, there’s not many guys that can do what he does. I think he’s got maybe as much if not more of a ceiling than anybody in that room. I truly do. I think we’ve seen plenty to let us know that’s true defensively, and I would say on the offensive side too.”
All anybody needs to do is look to the Royals’ division rival Cleveland Indians and their shortstop Francisco Lindor to understand the potential impact of Mondesi.
Lindor, 26, is also a switch-hitting shortstop. He has speed, the ability to hit for average and power and excel defensively. Last season, he earned his second Gold Glove, second Silver Slugger Award and fourth All-Star selection after his third consecutive season of at least 30 home runs and 15 or more stolen bases.
“I told (Mondesi), I don’t care who you line yourself up with in the league,” Matheny said. “I’ll take you.”
A long winter
Mondesi spent the offseason in Kansas City rehabbing with the Royals training staff, including rehab director Jeff Blum, and alongside his younger brother Paul Mondesi, who is a catcher in the lower levels of the Royals’ minor league system.
The only time Mondesi left Kansas City was for a brief trip home to the Dominican Republic to visit family around the new year.
Mondesi recently received clearance to hit from the right side after previously being restricted to protect his shoulder. He said that he feels like a normal participant in camp, and the only thing he’s not allowed to do is dive for a ball in the field.
He’ll likely get that last bit of clearance in two weeks, but he’s eager to pass that last barrier.
“I need to try it,” Mondesi said. “I need to show them that I’m ready.”
Well aware that the injury-prone label was following him, Mondesi expressed a strong desire last spring to prove he could remain healthy for a full year. While he was frustrated about another season-ending injury, he won’t dwell on it.
“It happens,” Mondesi said. “I just need to turn the page and focus on this year, and be ready for this year.”
If Mondesi stays healthy, he’ll face a similar challenge as slugger Jorge Soler did last season. Succeeding over the course of a full season requires making daily adjustments to maintain offensive production.
Mondesi struck out 132 times in 102 games last season, and one focus this year will be recognizing offspeed pitches. He feels he has improved at that aspect but admitted he needs to see more pitches.
That’s just one more reason he’s eager to get into spring games.
Lingering concern
Matheny said Mondesi will play in spring training games, but not Friday’s spring opener against the Texas Rangers. The goal remains for Mondesi to break camp with the team and be with the club for the season opener.
The question of keeping Mondesi healthy remains one of the top topics of discussion within the organization. They want to maximize his skills on the field at a premium position, but they also need to keep him healthy.
“A lot of that is reading his body,” Matheny said. “We’ve got more information that we’ve ever had before too. Setting up the kinetic change. What are we seeing? There are some deficiencies. We’re monitoring that all the time. What kind of signs and signals are we getting? Is there something that’s going to have a tip for us to watch.”
Matheny has spoken to Mondesi about playing hard but also being smart about taking chances. For example, there may be times he shouldn’t dive for a ball that could potentially lead to an injury.
“We look at that constantly,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said of limiting Mondesi’s injuries. “Our performance science science department led by Austin Driggers and Nick Kenney, our head trainer, and Ryan Stoneberg and Erika (Sharp), our nutritionist. It’s something they talk about constantly. I think it’s a combination of a lot of stuff.”
Moore pointed to the fact that Mondesi is a “fast twitch type player” with lean body mass and not a lot of soft tissue who plays aggressively. Moore also mentioned Mondesi having entered professional baseball at the age of 16 and taking on a similar workload of some men who were 25.
While Moore said the industry is doing a better job of managing those workloads and the Royals staff have become more focused on measuring exertion rates and monitoring the stress put on the body, but it’s still an inexact science.
He also believes there’s still an aspect of the issue that comes down to a young player simply learning by trial and error what his body needs in order to prepare to perform over a long season.
The Royals have investigated the effects of working out at various times of the day, differences in the time of the year or climate and stress levels.
No single definitive solution exists, but Moore finds encouragement in the progress he has seen Mondesi continually make in building his body and the fact that he still has room for growth as he gets older.
“I think we feel like Mondi is in a good place,” Moore said. “His body looks good. He’s put in a lot of work. The fact that his body continues to change a little bit speaks to the fact that he’s still maturing.”
