This Royal may have gone from buried on Yankees depth chart to KC’s starting lineup
Kansas City Royals first baseman Ryan McBroom certainly couldn’t have predicted exactly how he’d make a big-league Opening Day roster for the first time. In fact, as the end of the minor-league season approached last year, he had no idea he’d even be playing for the Royals.
Now, McBroom appears almost sure to find his name scrawled in the starting lineup when the Royals take on the Cleveland Indians Friday night in their season opener at Progressive Field.
The right-handed hitting McBroom and left-handed hitting Ryan O’Hearn went into spring training as the leading candidates to win the first base job, and both performed well enough in Arizona that it appeared a platoon might have been the most likely outcome.
However, O’Hearn contracted the coronavirus during spring training 2.0. McBroom returned to baseball activities this week and will be working out at the team’s alternate summer site (T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kan.). That left McBroom, 28, to step into the starting job heading into his first full season — a pandemic-shortened 60-game season — with the Royals.
“It’s just a tough, tough time we’re all going through right now,” McBroom said of O’Hearn being sidetracked by the coronavirus. “We’re just going to continue to play baseball. Each team is going through it. We’re just going to do our best to come out and put our best team on the field each night and compete and play baseball.”
During Cactus League play in Arizona for the Royals’ initial spring training camp, McBroom batted .314 with a .368 on-base percentage. He also smashed three home runs and posted a slugging percentage of .657 in 35 at-bats. Six of his 11 hits went for extra bases, and his eight RBIs ranked behind only O’Hearn.
The Royals acquired McBroom from the New York Yankees on Aug. 31 for cash considerations and International slot money.
While with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre he slashed .315/.402/.574 with 26 home runs, led the International League in runs scored (87) and OPS (.976) and ranked second in slugging percentage, third in on-base percentage and fourth in batting average.
He earned midseason and postseason International League All-Star honors and started the Triple-A All-Star Game as the designated hitter for the International League.
His path to the majors in the Yankees organization seemed blocked by their depth at the position. However, he went directly to the big leagues as a September call-up after being traded to the Royals.
A 6-foot-3, 225-pounder with a good approach at the plate, McBroom batted .293 with five doubles, six RBIs, eight runs scored and a .361 on-base percentage in his first 23 major-league games with the Royals.
He came into this year wanting to solidify his standing as a major-league player. He’s had to make his case with a pandemic having caused MLB to shut down for three and a half months before spring training resumed.
“The pandemic part is the craziest part, to be honest with you,” McBroom said of the past year. “But it’s just like every year: As a competitor you want to continue to climb the ladder until you get to the highest level. I was blessed enough to be able to do that. I was taken in by this great organization. It just got to a point in my career where it was time. I truly believe that.”
“The pandemic part is wild. We’re still going through it. Each organization, each sport, is going through it. We see the NFL grinding through it right now just like we will be for the rest of the season. We’re going to continue to play every day and compete.”
Last season, the entire bottom third of the Royals’ lineup struggled to provide any sort of consistent offensive production.
Nos. 7-9 in the batting order, not including the pitcher during National League games, logged a collective batting average of .215, an on-base percentage of .272, a slugging percentage of .318, and 29 home runs, 135 RBIs and 175 runs scored in 162 games.
The Royals believe their lineup has gotten much deeper with the return of six-time All-Star catcher and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner Salvador Perez, as well as the addition of Maikel Franco, who has three seasons of 22 homers or more on his resume.
By comparison, the AL Central Division-champion Minnesota Twins’ bottom third of the lineup posted a slash line of .273/.345/.490, with 85 homers, 251 RBIs and 286 runs.
“I think last year we had a pretty good lineup, but I think it was pretty heavy at the front and kind of slowed off at the end,” Royals left fielder Alex Gordon said. “I think (Perez and Franco) are going to extend it and not really have any holes in the lineup. Right now, I’m sitting between Salvy and Soler and all these righties. I’m kind of loving it.”
Last season, Royals first basemen produced a combined slash line of .220/.279/.367 with 19 home runs, 72 RBIs and 29 doubles. If McBroom and O’Hearn can build on their Cactus League performances, it will give the lineup even more potency.
“We feel really, really good with our lineup,” said Royals outfielder/infielder Whit Merrifield, who led the majors in hits the past two seasons. “Even look at first base, with McBroom or O’Hearn — both of those guys have some serious thump and can put together good at-bats.
“We feel good with where we’re at and look forward to a good offensive year.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "This Royal may have gone from buried on Yankees depth chart to KC’s starting lineup."
