Are you missing baseball too? For those that don’t know me, hello! My name is Keith Schmelter and I was the most profitable MLB writer on the Pickswise staff last season. I finished +37.6 units on money line/run-line picks, +52.9 units on game totals, and +39.3 units (21-6-1) on three-star plays for Pickswise. I am a die-hard baseball fan with an even greater passion for statistics who loves to watch and bet on baseball. While the MLB is in a lockout, I will be analyzing every MLB team and giving my predictions for their 2022 season.
Moving along in the AL Central, let’s analyze the Kansas City Royals.
Kansas City Royals breakdown
2022 World Series odds: +10000
2022 AL Central odds: +1000
2021 record: 74-88
2021 O/U record: 68-82-12
Key players in: None
Key players out: None
Story of last season
The Royals led the AL Central for some time in April, but it didn’t last long. They slowly slipped down in the standings until they found themselves 1 game ahead of the last-place Twins when the season ended.
Salvador Perez was the silver lining of the 2021 season as the longtime Royal earned his 7th All-Star nomination and finished 7th in the AL MVP vote after posting a .273 batting average, 121 RBIs, and 48 home runs. Perez’s sudden power surge was unexpected as the catcher had never hit more than 27 home runs in a season, but his career-high 48 was enough to break Carlton Fisk’s record of most home runs in a season by an American League player who played at least 75% of his games at catcher.
Royals fans got a glimpse of their future when Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, and Jackson Kowar all got plenty of time in 2021 since Kansas City lacked the presence of veteran pitching. It wasn’t the best pitching at all times, but they got to start somewhere.
Kansas City Royals 2022 MLB season predictions
It’s Bobby Witt Jr. time in Kansas City. The former #2 overall pick is finally expected to reach the big leagues this season which is the start of the future for the Royals. Witt Jr. hit .285 in 62 games in Triple-A after hitting nearly .300 in Double-A, but the amazing part is Witt Jr. leapfrogged from Rookie ball to Double-A and still had great success in Triple-A. It’s uncertain whether Witt Jr. will start at Triple-A or the big leagues, but his Spring Training performance will likely dictate where he starts.
The Royals’ young pitching core of Singer, Kowar, Lynch, and Bubic was a rollercoaster of emotions in 2021. Singer, the Royals’ first-round pick in 2018, had a decent first full year in the majors with a 4.91 ERA and a 4.57 xERA. Singer showed potential throughout the season and will blossom into the Royals ace in the near future.
For the other three young pitchers, it was hard to find consecutive quality starts as they all lacked consistency. But with a whole season under their belt, they have much higher expectations this upcoming season. It would be beneficial for the Royals to sign a veteran starting pitcher to mentor these young players, so add that to the to-do list for the Royals when the lockout is over.
The top of the Royals order (minus Carlos Santana) carried the rest of the lineup in 2021. But Whit Merrifield, Andrew Benintendi, and Perez can only do so much to keep the Royals afloat. In order to win more than 74 games in 2022, Kansas City needs to sign some hit-first players to put at the bottom of their lineup.
Trading away future World Series Champion and World Series MVP Jorge Soler was the right move at the time, but the pitching prospect they got in return won’t reach the majors for years and can’t help their hitting problem right now. There are plenty of above-average free agents still on the market, so expect Kansas City to make a few moves when the lockout ends.
Kansas City has the worst odds to win the AL Central on DraftKings and it makes sense why. They did not make a notable move prior to the lockout starting and the majority of their starting rotation is made of players with less than 2 full years of MLB experience. I’m staying away from any Royals future bets until they make some moves.
2022 MLB season team previews
Check out the rest of our team previews for the upcoming baseball season!
- New York Yankees
- Boston Red Sox
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Baltimore Orioles
- Chicago White Sox
- Detroit Tigers
- Cleveland Guardians
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