This ‘clear indicator’ of how Royals can improve was key to opening day at The K
As Royals general manager J.J. Picollo last week considered the keys to the club’s ability to return to the postseason after falling short last year, one theme came up several different times and ways:
At least some semblance of production from the outfield, largely entwined with the bottom of the order, that had been so meager last year.
Especially compared to prolific output from an infield — including behind the plate — that was at or near the top of MLB in several categories. So effective, in fact, that all he believes the Royals need from the outfield and bottom of the lineup is “to be average.”
Believing that prospect to be enhanced by the additions of newcomers Isaac Collins, Lane Thomas and Starling Marte, not to mention Jac Caglianone’s first full season in the major leagues, Picollo added, “I think that’s going to be a clear indicator of how much better our offense can be.”
The Royals lent some testimony to that Monday, the home opener at Kauffman Stadium, where all of their runs in a 3-1 win over Minnesota were furnished by the Nos. 8 and 9 slots in the lineup.
From the end of the order, center fielder Kyle Isbel’s home run in the second inning drove home No. 6 hitter Jonathan India, who had singled, to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.
And Collins, batting eighth and playing left, homered in the seventh for his first hit as a Royal as they evened their record at 2-2 with their first victory on opening day at The K since 2022.
Neither is known for his power: Collins’ was just his 10th in 145 big-league games, and Isbel’s was his 24th in 499 MLB games.
But no, neither was the beneficiary of the Royals moving in the fences for this season.
Each of those home runs also would have been out a year ago, leaving Isbel amused by the suggestion he didn’t need it any closer after his 403-foot drive.
“Guess not,” he said, smiling.
As for Collins, well, he put his 400-foot launch thusly: “That’s about all I’ve got right there,” he said, laughing.
The combo was about all the Royals needed, though, especially as Kris Bubic gave them a third straight stellar start from their rotation and the team got virtual bullpen perfection despite not having available Lucas Erceg, Matt Strahm and the injured Carlos Estevez.
And it was particularly timely on a day when the first five men in the starting lineup went-3 for-18.
“Good teams are going to do that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “You’re going to have to get production (everywhere).”
Of all the Royals’ issues last year, including their baserunning gaffes and struggles to deliver with runners in scoring position, perhaps nothing hovered more consistently over their inability to generate runs than what essentially became a void at the bottom of the order — which not so coincidentally was loaded with outfielders.
As my colleague Sam McDowell deftly summed up last week, Royals outfielders combined in 2025 to finish last in on-base percentage, 29th in OPS (on-base plus slugging), 29th in home runs and 30th in runs. Among other figures courtesy of FanGraphs data tracking, they also had the greatest frequency of soft contact.
Stalling out cost the Royals in itself but, of course, also in terms of fewer at-bats for the top of the order.
So Monday amounted to a fine early sign with Isbel, a career .238 hitter, at least for now surprisingly leading the group with a .400 average.
Just the same, the flip side of this is that baseball is notoriously fickle and often deceptive from one day to the next, with the line between coincidence and trend ever-blurry.
Any one of 162 games is less a sample size than a glance, and fool’s gold is ever present.
Only a year ago, after all, the Royals got crucial contributions from the bottom of the order — then including Maikel Garcia — to win the second game of the season.
“You need to have production up and down,” Quatraro said then, rather similarly to what he said Monday. “You have to be a consistent lineup. … We can’t rely on it being one or two guys.”
Encouraging as it might have been, it was fleeting.
So it will be weeks, if then, until we know what kind of traction there might be here — both among that group and, accordingly, for the Royals themselves.
But Collins was right when he said this can’t all fall on Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Sal Perez, who last year combined to drive in 375 of the Royals’ 651 runs.
Along with India, who led off 103 games, the group combined to score 369 of those runs.
Something else has to provide or something will give way again.
Sure, a lot of other stuff has to go right for the Royals to return to contention, including keeping their pitching staff healthy and progress by Caglianone and fellow promising rookie Carter Jensen.
But this part of the dynamic is pivotal, too.
And at least for a shining moment on Monday, you could see how much it might come to mean.