Tuesday, April 01

ARLINGTON -- We made it. The Royals will play real, meaningful baseball this week.

Opening Day is Thursday, with Cole Ragans set to fire the first pitch of the 2025 season at 3:10 p.m. CT at Kauffman Stadium. He’ll face the reigning American League Central champion Guardians -- the team the Royals are looking to unseat this year. 

Last year was undoubtedly a success for the Royals, who brought postseason baseball back to Kansas City for the first time since they won the 2015 World Series.

But it also ended in disappointment, as the Royals lost to the Yankees in the American League Division Series. That feeling has fueled their Spring Training, brought up time and time again.

“I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Ragans said. “More so than what other people put on us. Obviously, we want to win. That’s our end goal. And I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be ready each and every day.”

What Needs to Go Right?

The Royals rotation was second best in baseball last year with a 3.55 ERA. They had two starters finish Top 5 in American League Cy Young voting -- Seth Lugo (second) and Ragans (fourth). Those two combined for 65 starts, and Michael Wacha added 29 starts. The Royals were incredibly lucky with their rotation health and acknowledged as much at the end of the year while also knowing they might not get that lucky again and that they had to get deeper. 

They believe they are with Michael Lorenzen back on a one-year deal, Kris Bubic returning to the rotation and Daniel Lynch IV, Alec Marsh, Kyle Wright and No. 5 prospect Noah Cameron all likely to help cover the 179 2/3 innings the Royals lost when they traded Brady Singer to the Reds this offseason. 

If the Royals can come close to replicating what they did last year with their pitching, they’ll be in a good spot throughout the season.

Great Unknown

Jonathan India, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez make the Royals’ lineup very top-heavy, and they can carry this team all the way to October. But behind them? All the questions reside in the bottom half of the order. 

The Royals weren’t able to bring in the middle-of-the-order bat they wanted this offseason, so the pressure is on for MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe to improve from a year ago and provide a power threat in the fifth and sixth spots. Can Maikel Garcia take the next step in his career, or will he be relegated to a utility role? Will Michael Massey stay on the field and deepen the lineup? As we saw at the end of 2024, even the stars struggle from time to time -- so who will step up when the Royals need it the most?

Team MVP Will Be ...

How about a shortstop named Bobby Witt Jr.?

And maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but it’s fair to predict that Witt will make a case for AL MVP again, especially if his season comes anywhere close to what he did in 2024.

Witt’s 10.4 wins above replacement (WAR), according to FanGraphs, last year ranked second in baseball only to Aaron Judge’s 11.2. Witt was the 2024 batting champion with a .332 average and led MLB in hits (211) -- the first 200-hit season of his career. He ranked in the Top 5 in the AL in RBIs (109, tied for fourth), on-base percentage (.389, fifth), slugging percentage (.588, second) and wRC+ (168, tied for third).

An All-Star for the first time in his career, Witt hit 32 home runs and 45 doubles while stealing 31 bags. He was an AL Gold Glove winner at shortstop, a Silver Slugger Award winner and on the All-MLB First Team at the end of the year.

“We’ll take that season again, yeah,” manager Matt Quatraro said this spring. 

Duh!

Team Cy Young Will Be ...

We’re going with the obvious again. Ragans established himself as a premier starter in the league last season with a 3.14 ERA and 223 strikeouts across 32 starts.

At every turn since Ragans burst onto the scene following the trade that made him a Royal in 2023, the Royals have confirmed their belief in the young lefty. They made him their Opening Day starter in two consecutive seasons. They gave him the ball for Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series in Baltimore last October -- the Royals’ first postseason game in nine years. They signed him to a new three-year contract, showing their investment in a young player still under control.

Ragans has elite swing-and-miss stuff from the left side and can dominate hitters during any given start. If he can keep the walks down and go deep into games, here’s thinking he’ll be in Cy Young consideration again.

Bold Prediction

Top prospect Jac Caglianone arrives in August and fuels a postseason push.

Caglianone, the No. 6 overall pick in last year’s Draft, did nothing but impress in his first big league Spring Training. He fit right in among Witt, Pasquantino and the other Royals hitters he might soon be playing alongside.

If Caglianone can continue what he showed in spring with his power and strike zone improvement, he’ll be moving quickly from Double-A to Triple-A. And if the Royals are in need of a little more power in their lineup -- maybe more production in their outfield -- it wouldn’t be surprising to see Caglianone take on the fountains at The K later this summer.

Witt is continuing to grow his brand on and off the field, and he announced an expanded partnership with Chinook Seedery this spring that made the Royals shortstop part-owner of the Texas-based seed brand.

He even has his own exclusive flavor: Lemon Pepper.

Chinook is the only seed brand you’ll see in the Royals dugout, and packages are available online or at stores like Love’s, HyVee and Fareway, with more options coming soon to the Kansas City area.

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