How Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor are adjusting to the Royals’ outfield
The introductions have been made. They’ve moved into their new lockers, and Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor are newly minted Kansas City Royals outfielders.
Taylor, the fleet-footed center fielder, marked the first free-agent addition made by the front office this offseason while left fielder Benintendi served as the finishing flourish to a winter designed to push the team completely past the rebuilding phase and firmly into the age of expectations.
They each came to the Royals as former highly rated prospects with World Series championships on their respective résumés. They have also played for only one other MLB team.
So far this spring, they’ve been acclimating to a new ballclub that brought in three new projected everyday starters — first baseman Carlos Santana also signed this winter — and trying to get a feel for their new teammates amid a sea of masked faces in a socially distanced setting.
“It’s been great,” Benintendi said at the end of his first week with the club in Arizona. “Everybody here has been extremely receptive. They’ve made this transition extremely easy for me. I already feel like I’m tight with the group, so I don’t think it could’ve gone better.”
Benintendi, 26, spent his entire professional career as a member of the Boston Red Sox prior to last month’s three-team trade. Contractually, he’s under club control for this season and next season. He profiles as a near ideal fit for the Royals style of play and their ballpark.
“Getting to know them personally, it’s been awesome,” Benintendi said. “I meshed really quickly, I feel like. Everybody here seems like a good due. Everybody here wants each other to succeed. It’s a great group of guys. I’m excited to be here.”
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound, athletic left-handed hitting Benintendi has posted a .273/.353/.435 slash line in 485 career regular-season games in the majors. In his three full seasons as a starter (2017-19), he averaged 16 homers, 82 RBIs and 17 stolen bases per season.
He’s admitted to falling in the trap of chasing power statistics in 2019, and injuries limited him to 14 games and a rough performance at the plate in last summer’s pandemic-shortened season, when he hit 4 for 39 with a .103/.314/.218 slash line.
Benintendi has pledged to return to his previous approach of using the entire field, forgoing power numbers for consistent line-drive contact and using his speed.
He said he has already begun to pick the brain of outfielder and two-time MLB hits leader Whit Merrifield. The two have similar offensive profiles.
“For me what I focused on a lot this offseason was my swing path,” Benintendi said. “It was getting really not level. I think for a player like me — obviously, I’m not a huge guy so I don’t have to worry too much about power — I think that’s going back to 2018.
Where Benintendi played against the Royals every season as a member of an American League rival, Taylor spent his entire career in the National League and faced the Royals sparingly. Royals manager Mike Matheny has familiarity with Taylor from his days as St. Louis Cardinals manager.
Taylor has shown elite defensive prowess in center field in the past and ranged a long way in his first start of spring training to steal a potential extra-base hit from Eddie Rosario in the right-center field gap near the warning track during Monday’s Cactus League game. He then wheeled and threw to first base to double off the base runner.
Matheny has continually touted the offensive upside that remains within reach for Taylor.
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Taylor, who signed as a free agent after having spent his career in the Washington Nationals organization, set career highs in 2017 with 23 doubles, 19 home runs, a .271 batting average and .806 OPS.
However, he only hit .196 this past season in 38 games.
Taylor, 29, has worked to revamp and simplify his swing in recent years. He went 1 for 2 with a single and a run scored on Monday.
“Mechanically, I feel like I’m in a good place,” Taylor said. “I’m in a place now where I feel comfortable with my swing and it’s more so just getting game reps, making sure the timing is there, the recognition and pitching selection.”
While he described COVID protocols as having put a “wrinkle” in the typical process of getting to know teammates, he seemed to appreciate the atmosphere so far in Royals camp.
“It’s been great,” Taylor said. “Guys keep it loose. We go out there and we work hard. I’ve enjoyed the approach the coaching staff has.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor are adjusting to the Royals’ outfield."
