Analysis: Here’s which Royals are faster (and slower) in 2020, according to Statcast

After checking for the last week or so, I was pleasantly surprised Tuesday to see that Statcast had released its Sprint Speed metric for 2020.

It’s one of my favorite numbers to compare to earlier seasons, as with the eye test alone, it’s usually difficult to distinguish if someone is in great shape or instead has lost a step from previous levels.

Sprint Speed gives us an objective measure. In short, it gives us a player’s feet per second speed in his fastest one-second window on select plays that are likely to require sprinting. Major League average is 27 feet per second.

Without further ado ... here’s a look at each Royals players’ speed this season among those with at least 10 qualifying opportunities.

Faster than 2019

It’s probably best to start with a needed caveat: The weird baseball restart seems to have affected Sprint Speeds across the league.

Case in point: Last year, eight players were at 30 feet per second or better; this year, only one (Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn) has hit that benchmark.

So perhaps it makes sense — along with the assumption that players could become better conditioned as the season goes on — that just one Royal has been able to improve his time from a season ago.

The credit still goes to the 26-year-old Phillips here, who has elevated himself from 173rd in MLB Sprint Speed to 15th. That also nearly has him back to his 2018 mark of 29.0 feet per second.

Same speed as 2019

Franco’s game is power — not speed — but the 27-year-old at least has maintained his pace from 2019. He remains a below-average runner.

Perez’s lack of dropoff is probably more impressive, considering he’s a season removed from playing following Tommy John surgery. At age 30, Perez is just below a league-average runner for a catcher, which is something I wouldn’t have expected without the data.

Slightly slower than 2019

Mondesi has struggled at the plate but remains an elite athlete, ranking sixth among 300 MLB players in Sprint Speed. Merrifield also impresses with this 2020 metric, as at 31 years old, he’s still an above-average runner for a center-fielder — a position typically reserved for the freshest legs on the roster.

Slower than 2019

Cordero — now out for the year with a wrist injury — showed flashes of his speed in 2020, but not nearly to the same level as he did two years earlier in his last healthy season with the Padres. Lopez and Soler, meanwhile, remain above-average runners for their positions despite both losing a step so far in 2020.

The Royals’ first basemen, in a strange way, have almost completely mirrored each other this year. Ryan McBroom and Ryan O’Hearn are both among the team’s biggest speed decliners so far, with the two still hovering around status quo for first basemen.

Gordon’s sprint speed of 24.9 feet per second continues a steady decline, while ranking ahead of only the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson among left-fielders. At 36, he’ll definitely earn his fourth straight gold glove in left field if he’s able to win it this season.

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.