Why the KC Royals have switched gears on load management approach for Adalberto Mondesi
The Kansas City Royals have completely backed off the idea of artificially managing the workload of oft-injured shortstop Adalberto Mondesi entering the 2022 season.
General manager J.J. Picollo acknowledged the organization’s shift in approach on Sunday morning at the team’s facility in Arizona before a Cactus League exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners.
“It has developed more into let’s be smart about it and be aware of it,” Picollo said. “If he plays eight days in a row, let’s be looking for a way. If the game is out of hand one way or another, maybe we get him off his feet for the remainder of the night.
“But we’ve decided not to go ‘He’s going to play five and then he’s going sit one.’ We’re not going to do that. We just think he’s too valuable to be on the field. Hopefully, we can monitor his workload in different ways that if we’re sensing that it’s time to give him a day, we give him a day.”
Mondesi, 26, goes into this season — which for the Royals begins Thursday at Kauffman Stadium against the Cleveland Guardians — as the club’s starting shortstop despite having played just 35 games last season, his fewest since appearing in 25 in 2017.
An athletic phenom with superstar potential, his injury history has hampered him throughout most of his professional career. Mondesi hasn’t played in more than 102 games in any season in the majors.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said early in spring training that the club would not look to artificially limit Mondesi’s playing time. It wasn’t entirely clear then if Matheny was simply being optimistic or if the club was waiting to make any decision on a load management plan.
Picollo made it clear on Sunday that they’re once again viewing Mondesi as an everyday shortstop, in part because they don’t have enough evidence that load management will be effective and in part because of Mondesi’s own preference.
Are the Royals leaving themselves open to second-guessing or regret if Mondesi runs into more injury issues this season?
“The only reason I say no to that is because we haven’t come up with a definitive answer as to what will keep him healthy,” Picollo said. “There’s nothing we can find, whether it’s performance science, strength and conditioning, again it’s the unpredictability of it.
“It’s not like he has one chronic thing. It has gone to different body parts. We just don’t feel like there’s a clear-cut answer based on what our guys have researched that says this is the way to go. That’s why I say it’s going to be more of an awareness of how to manage him through the course of say maybe two-week chunks.”
Picollo asserted that any artificial schedule of days off the team could put in place wouldn’t be based on definitive data. He compared the approach of monitoring Mondesi and adjusting accordingly to the way team officials managed dynamic center fielder Lorenzo Cain during his tenure with the Royals.
Cain had been hampered by injuries during his time with the Royals, but he also played 155 games in his final season with KC in 2017.
“I think we truly would be guessing and trying to protect him too much,” Picollo said of implementing a set schedule for Mondesi. “He wants to play. I think that’s the other thing we have to keep in mind. He doesn’t want to be managed that way. He wants to play. He has made that clear.”
Load management became a big part of the discussion with Mondesi last summer. Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore spoke bluntly during a radio interview when he said the club could not view Mondesi as an everyday player due to his injury history.
Moore, who later apologized to Mondesi for making those comments publicly and softened his stance in subsequent interviews, maintained that the Royals had to take Mondesi’s injury history into account as they shaped their roster.
This winter, with Nicky Lopez and Bobby Witt Jr. as viable alternative options at shortstop, the Royals had thought they’d be pleased to get 130 games out of Mondesi this season. From the beginning of camp this spring, the Royals’ primary infield alignment has featured Witt at third base, Mondesi at shortstop and Lopez at second base.
“It gives us the best chance to have the range we want at all those positions and really try to steal outs,” Picollo said.
Lopez figures to be the primary backup at shortstop, and Witt will focus on third base after having played mostly shortstop in the minors.
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
