Royals’ Ryan McBroom embraces competition, even if there’s one for his roster spot
The sweet spot Kansas City Royals slugger Ryan McBroom emphasized after hitting his second home run of the spring wasn’t on the barrel of his bat. Rather, it was a desired mental state where he can embrace one type of competition while also ignoring another sort.
That one-on-one competition with an opposing pitcher is where McBroom has made his mark as a hitter throughout his professional career.
The other competition, the daily competition for playing time and roster spots, is the type he pushes out of his mind. At least he tries.
The Royals signed a former All-Star and Silver Slugger to play first base in Carlos Santana this offseason and traded for World Series-winning left fielder Andrew Benintendi. If McBroom had designs on slugging his way into the starting lineup, those two moves likely assured that he’d have to fight just for a roster spot.
“It’s always going to be a competition for me to make a team regardless of what I’m able to do during the season, especially at this level,” McBroom said. “It’s just going to be competitive, which is a good thing. It means we have depth. It means we have talent. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do this year.”
The right-handed hitting McBroom, 28, is no stranger to being part of a glut of productive hitters at the same position or vying for limited roster spots.
The Royals acquired him from the New York Yankees at the end of the 2019 minor-league season. He’d been a Triple-A International League mid-season and postseason All-Star, and slashed .315/.402/.574 with 26 home runs and 66 RBIs in 117 games.
He’d been stuck behind a group of productive first base/corner outfield/designated hitter options in the majors and top levels of the minors, including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, Edwin Encarnacion, Kendrys Morales, Luke Voit, Mike Tauchman, Clint Frazier, Mike Ford and Greg Bird.
Judge and Stanton have eclipsed 50 home runs in a season in the majors, Encarnacion has surpassed 40 homers multiple times, Morales reached 30 multiple times and Gardner and Voit have turned in 20-homer seasons.
Last season with the Royals, McBroom went into spring training competing for the starting first baseman job with friend and teammate Ryan O’Hearn. They’re both trying to earn spots on the roster this season.
“Even going back to freshman year of college, I was kind of a nobody and had to earn my stripes and just compete my tail off but also have fun with it,” said McBroom, who was drafted out of the University of West Virginia.
McBroom insists the fun comes in those daily battles against pitchers, not battling teammates for jobs or positions.
“You forget all about competing against other guys,” McBroom said. “It’s kind of just about having fun and beating the guy on the mound.
“There’s no separate mindset of ‘I have to beat out my teammate here, I have to do this, I’ve got to do something way different.’ You lose that. When you’re in a game, you lose that complete mentality and you focus on beating the pitcher. That’s what it comes down to.”
McBroom finished the 2020 season having slashed .247/.282/.506 with six home runs, 10 RBIs and eight runs scored in 81 at-bats over 36 games.
In a pandemic-shortened 60-game season, McBroom set the franchise career record for pinch-hit home runs with three. He hit all of those homers in a 19-day span in August.
His three pinch-hit homers in August were the most by an American League player in any month since Del Wilber hit three in May 1953.
He also led MLB with five pinch hits.
Still, he landed at the alternate training site in September after a stretch during which he went 1 for 20 at the plate.
“Sometimes you can get away from certain things because your focus is elsewhere,” McBroom said. “Then you’ve got to kind go back to the fundamentals, and that really is bat to ball.”
His focus this spring has been simple. He wants to keep his swing short and compact and maintain that barrel to ball mentality.
So far this spring training, he has gone 8 for 27 (.296) with four extra-base hits (two homers, a double and a triple).
Last year, he showed that he’s capable of having an impact in critical times as a bat off the bench. That’s the most likely role he’d fill if included on the roster at the start of this year.
“He’s a dangerous hitter,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I just believe over the long haul of his career he’s going to find something that really clicks for him. He’s going to be able to do some damage on a consistent basis, but what we need him to do is take advantage of those opportunities we give him to take a big at-bat.”
