With 3 shortstops, including Mondesi, how will Kansas City Royals set 2022 infield?
Having three potential shortstops is better than none or one, but it still makes for some crucial decisions.
The pivotal questions the Kansas City Royals will continue to sort through during 2022 spring training will include: What’s the best infield they can run out on a daily basis? How do they maximize the ability of Adalberto Mondesi, Nicky Lopez and Bobby Witt Jr.? What sort of reverberations will that have on the rest of the roster?
“We have three really talented shortstops that we believe can all play that position, play at a high level,” Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore said. “We also believe all three of them can be impactful on the offensive side in multiple ways. They’re very dynamic. Two of those guys there that can win the game with their legs and win the game with the home run.”
Third base will likely remain an option for one of them. The preference at this point appears to be to limit Hunter Dozier primarily to right field and first base. Dozier has still played more games at third base than any other position in the majors.
Mondesi played third base in the final month of the season when he returned from the injured list. The talented 26-year-old switch-hitting shortstop with elite speed and power played in just 35 games this season.
A pair of oblique injuries, one to each side, and a hamstring injury wiped out most of his season and paved the way for Lopez to play shortstop on a daily basis and become the first Royals shortstop (at least 75% of his games at that position) to finish a season batting .300.
Mondesi’s availability will play a big part in how the Royals proceed. Moore made it clear over the summer that they will not shape the roster counting on Mondesi as the everyday shortstop.
The Royals have increasingly come to view Mondesi in a similar vein to their former star center fielder Lorenzo Cain. With Cain, they eventually had to plan on not having him play more than eight or nine games in a row without an off day.
The plan for Mondesi’s health
The Royals will use some form of load management in an effort to keep Mondesi healthy.
“There’s always been a level of uncertainty with the health of Adalberto Mondesi for the last three of four years, it seems like we talk about it every offseason,” Moore said.
They’ve also asked Mondesi to make some changes to his offseason training to help facilitate a healthier season in 2022.
General manager JJ Picollo served as point person, conveying to Mondesi the importance of him having a set offseason plan to prepare for next season.
“I think we’ve got a good plan, he’s just got to follow it,” Picollo said. “I think he’s got to be committed to it. I think he’s just so freakishly talented that he’s never really had to train for anything, but now, hopefully, the light bulb is coming on that ‘I’ve got to be on the field otherwise I really hamstring or handicap our team.’”
After spending time back in the Dominican Republic, Mondesi will make Florida his base of operation this offseason.
The Royals hope to get Mondesi at least some period of time to train with special assignment hitting instructor Mike Tosar, who has worked with Salvador Perez and Jorge Soler in Miami for the past several offseasons.
The plan also calls for Mondesi to arrive in Arizona in late January/early February in advance of spring training to allow him to hit the ground running when full squad workouts begin. Last season, Mondesi had a delayed start to workouts because of a foot injury sustained while in the Dominican Republic.
“The message from our end was clear to his agent and then to Mondi that he has got to spend more time focused on getting ready for the season,” Picollo said. “The interesting thing with him is he’s a rare body type. We talked to our medical staff, our performance science people. He’s built like a sprinter. We’ve compared it to (Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver) Tyreek Hill.”
For Mondesi, his elite speed and explosiveness make him electrifying and susceptible to injury because of the way his muscles fire faster and react quicker than many athletes.
The difficult part with Mondesi has been myriad injuries and not one chronic issue that might be addressed specifically.
Instead, the idea will be to address how Mondesi trains his entire body. He hasn’t played in more than 102 games in any season in the majors. If the Royals can get him to play in 130 games in a season, they’d be pleased.
Musical chairs on the infield
The best defensive infield as far as range, probably features Witt at third base, Mondesi at shortstop and Lopez at second base, though Whit Merrifield could win a Gold Glove at second base.
The Royals must still decide if Witt, who slashed .290/.361/.575 with 33 home runs and 29 stolen bases in his first full season in the minors, is ready to debut with the major-league club out of camp.
Then they’ll have to decide whether they’d be better off with Lopez remaining the everyday shortstop and providing stability or utilizing Mondesi skills at his natural position of shortstop when he is in the lineup.
If Mondesi pushes Lopez off of shortstop and to second base on a semi-regular basis, it would likely mean Merrifield bouncing between multiple positions on the infield and outfield as he’s done in the past.
One consideration is the fact that the Royals have a high level of confidence that if they had to go to Lopez at shortstop and Merrifield at second base as the secondary middle infield, the two have played together extensively and both can also handle the adjustment of moving around to multiple positions.
Mondesi said late last season he’d be open to playing the outfield, but there’s hesitation on the part of the Royals to move him there because of the amount of running and potential stress and strain put on his body with him having been injury prone. If he were to see time in the outfield, right field would be a more realistic option than center field.
