Record: 68-94, T-4th, AL West
Postseason: --
Ballpark: KC Municipal Stadium (102 hits, 86 HR)
Runs scored: 520 (12th)
Runs allowed: 663 (8th)
Pythag record: 63-99 (+5)
Recap: It seems strange to even think about but as of June 3 the Kansas City Royals were on top of the American League West division. All manner of pundits were talking about how both AL expansion teams - the Seattle Pilots were also weirdly competitive - had zigged where everyone else had zagged and put together teams based on defense and whatever pitching they could find. The bottom fell out shortly thereafter, with KC going 9-19 that month. They also finished the season going 10-22 from September 1 on. The good news is, they should have decently high draft picks.
History: This is the Royals' first season, although the Athletics played there for more than a decade before moving to Oakland prior to the 1968 season. That team never came particularly close to a pennant, so the city is still waiting on their first contender.
Outlook: This is not a good team and they don't really have a lot as of yet that might still be there when the team is able to be in contention. The best news is probably that in spite of all the losing, KC baseball fans still turned out to see this team; they had 1.5 million fans walk through the turnstiles last year, good for 7th in the AL.
Rotation
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+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| first_name | last_name | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Miguel | Chavez | 12 | 16 | 0.429 | 0 | 3.45 | 35 | 35 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 253.1 | 1081 | 220 | 110 | 97 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 126 | 9 | 151 | 10 | 4 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
| Eddie | Euceda | 7 | 20 | 0.259 | 0 | 3.81 | 36 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 226.2 | 940 | 224 | 110 | 96 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 81 | 10 | 73 | 6 | 1 | 8.9 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Ryan | Hicks | 11 | 9 | 0.550 | 0 | 3.16 | 27 | 24 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 179.1 | 743 | 154 | 75 | 63 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 67 | 7 | 156 | 10 | 2 | 7.7 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 7.8 |
| Mario | Marrero | 11 | 10 | 0.524 | 0 | 3.61 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 174.2 | 719 | 187 | 74 | 70 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 4 | 96 | 1 | 1 | 9.6 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 4.9 |
| Arnold | Martin | 5 | 16 | 0.238 | 0 | 4.32 | 24 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 145.2 | 637 | 154 | 88 | 70 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 75 | 6 | 62 | 7 | 0 | 9.5 | 0.6 | 4.6 | 3.8 |
| Tim | White | 2 | 2 | 0.500 | 0 | 3.72 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46.0 | 191 | 49 | 19 | 19 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 9.6 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 5.3 |
| Eddy | Albarran | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 0 | 3.68 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22.0 | 93 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 1.2 | 4.1 | 5.3 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Kansas City had a relatively stable, if not good, rotation last season, but it was also pretty old for an expansion club. That said, most of it returns for 1970. Their de facto ace is Miguel Chavez, the 30 year old former Twin who was left off of that team's protected list because he'd missed almost all of 1968 with bone spurs in his elbow. Luckily for the Royals he picked up pretty much right where he left off in 1969. Eric Tyler spent the first 4 months of the season in the bullpen but impressed the brass so much in a late-season tryout that he's not only in the rotation but slotted in as the #2. Eddie Euceda lost his 20th game of the season coming on in relief; the Royals had shut him down towards the end to try to allow him to avoid loss number 20 but the fates were not so kind. Tim White was cast off by a Houston team frustrated by his poor play last year; he won 15 games as recently as 1967 and could wind up being much more than a #4. And for now anyway the #5 spot is occupied by Arnold Martin, an expansion pick from Cincinnati who walked more batters than he struck out.
Bullpen
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| first_name | last_name | w | l | Pct | Sv | era | g | gs | cg | sho | gf | ip | bfp | h | r | er | hr | sh | sf | hp | bb | ibb | so | wp | bk | Hper9 | HRper9 | BBer9 | Kper9 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
| Eric | Tyler | 9 | 7 | 0.563 | 10 | 2.62 | 44 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 147.2 | 609 | 144 | 56 | 43 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 38 | 5 | 95 | 4 | 0 | 8.8 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 5.8 |
| Kevin | Quinn | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 2 | 2.81 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 48.0 | 209 | 52 | 20 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 5 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 9.7 | 0.4 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| Craig | Borgman | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | 1 | 2.86 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 34.2 | 147 | 33 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 8.6 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 6.5 |
| Billy | Munoz | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 6 | 3.31 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 32.2 | 131 | 28 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 4 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 7.7 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 7.4 |
| Arthur | Wood | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 3.86 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 30.1 | 130 | 37 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 11.0 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 5.0 |
| Oscar | Gonzalez | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | 0 | 6.93 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24.2 | 111 | 27 | 19 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 9.9 | 2.2 | 4.7 | 6.9 |
| Edgar | Gutierrez | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0.89 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20.1 | 78 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 5.3 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 7.1 |
| Tim | Banks | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2 | 4.95 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20.0 | 84 | 21 | 13 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9.5 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Ramon | Paniagua | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 1 | 7.07 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14.0 | 67 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15.4 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 2.6 |
| Glenn | Fitzgerald | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 5.59 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9.2 | 49 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 12.1 | 0.0 | 10.2 | 8.4 |
| Jose | Zuazua | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 4.76 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5.2 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.9 | 0.0 | 7.9 | 1.6 |
| Bernie | Meza | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 4.15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.1 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.3 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 8.3 |
| Phil | Coker | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 13.50 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
+ --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------ + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ---------- + ----------- + ---------- + ---------- +
Through a combination of trades, promotions into the rotation, and just a general sense of wanting to try out everyone they could, the Royals bullpen was an absolute mess during the final month of the season, to the point that it's hard to suss out exactly what it is they're going to do in 1970. Eric Tyler was the team's stopper for most of the year but now he's in the rotation, as noted. The job this year seems to be down to two people: Kevin Quinn, who pitched a solid 48 innings in relief last year in his first major league work since 1966, and Glenn Fitzgerald, whose control issues with the Cubs continued after he was cut by his first team and then signed with the Royals. Fitzgerald was pretty good in middle relief for Chicago in '66 and '67 before getting the yips, and what the heck, KC is an expansion team so why not see if he can work that out? Otherwise, the only other guy who pitched any real amount last year who's still with the club is Arthur Wood, who tried but failed to stick in the Angels' rotation in the mid 60s and last year at least had a positive K/W ratio.
Catcher
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| C | Jay | Byers | 98 | 327 | 29 | 68 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 29 | 38 | 3 | 107 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0.208 | 0.289 | 0.309 |
| C | Mike | King | 67 | 201 | 10 | 48 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 20 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.239 | 0.304 | 0.249 |
| C | Chris | Flores | 15 | 47 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.213 | 0.260 | 0.213 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
The Royals drafted Jay Byers off of the Senators' roster, where he was... fine as a 27 year old rookie. That .208 average is actually an 11 point increase from the season before but he walked a lot more, relatively speaking, in Washington. He did handle the staff decently, though he has a reputation for a somewhat noodly arm. Mike King split time with him, having been drafted in the 18th round off the Twins, but he his .239 average was even emptier and he proved to be too slow at 38 to handle the duties regularly and so was cut in September.
Infield
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| 1B | Yahashi | Ono | 152 | 572 | 50 | 173 | 37 | 2 | 7 | 69 | 64 | 3 | 48 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 0.302 | 0.376 | 0.411 |
| 1B | Sergio | Sicre | 25 | 35 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.229 | 0.333 | 0.257 |
| 2B | Ian | Coleman | 132 | 456 | 59 | 144 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 52 | 53 | 1 | 38 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 0.316 | 0.376 | 0.404 |
| 2B | Rick | Hearn | 48 | 137 | 17 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0.190 | 0.218 | 0.226 |
| 2B | Dusty | Twardy | 18 | 52 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.231 | 0.305 | 0.308 |
| 3B | Bob | Baldwin | 107 | 397 | 39 | 106 | 21 | 1 | 7 | 45 | 25 | 0 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 0.267 | 0.316 | 0.378 |
| 3B | Andy | Steinmetz | 80 | 168 | 12 | 28 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 20 | 2 | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0.167 | 0.262 | 0.226 |
| 3B | Cris | Ramos | 28 | 69 | 8 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.261 | 0.280 | 0.348 |
| 3B | Matt | Carroll | 9 | 18 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.167 | 0.167 | 0.222 |
| SS | Carlos | Altmann | 143 | 415 | 30 | 75 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 41 | 10 | 84 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0.181 | 0.259 | 0.241 |
| SS | Jose | Mejia | 31 | 65 | 10 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.277 | 0.324 | 0.323 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
Yahashi Ono was one of the great finds of the expansion draft. The Japanese national had come to America all the way back in 1962 but had never been given more than a few cups of coffee before the Royals gave the 38 year old the reins at first base. Ono took them and... ran with them. This metaphor died. He was the team's All Star representative and paced them in hits, doubles, and RBIs. I'd imagine the Royals would move him for parts if they could but for now, he provides fans with a rare rooting interest. The team did dally with 23 year old Sergio Sicre towards the end of the season but he doesn't look like he's ready yet.
Ian Coleman actually led the Royals in hitting last year, granting that he barely had the plate appearances to qualify. Coleman came to KC by way of the Angels, where he was a utility backup who got into 70 games last season but had just 78 at-bats. He's not very good defensively and lacks much power, but the Royals are not in a position to look a gift .318 hitting horse in the mouth.
Bob Baldwin was their 3rd baseman last year; the 35 year old had literally been signed as a minor league free agent by the New York Yankees two months before Kansas City selected him 15th overall. Nevertheless, he turned in a pretty decent season, so good in fact that the world champion New York Mets acquired him in exchange for 3B Jeff Nation, raed as the #53 prospect in baseball by OSA at the beginning of last year, and 24 year old pitcher Brian Johnson, who put together a fairly solid season in AAA Tidewater. Nation enters the season duking it out with Mexican League veteran Cris Ramos. Ramos hit 17 HRs there in 1967 but who knows how well those numbers translate to the USA.
The team's starting shortstop for 1969 and also 1970 us Carlos Altmann, who was a utility infielder for the Cubs before his selection. He turned out to be about as bad with the bat as you can get but a plus-plus fielder at shortstop. The Royals don't have anything better to put there...
Outfield
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+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| pos | first_name | last_name | g | ab | r | h | 2B | 3B | hr | rbi | bb | ibb | k | hpb | sh | sf | sb | cs | gdp | ba | obp | slg |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
| LF | John | Beard | 107 | 398 | 39 | 87 | 14 | 4 | 20 | 52 | 11 | 0 | 65 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 0.219 | 0.244 | 0.425 |
| LF | Jorge | Mota | 107 | 229 | 27 | 52 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 20 | 3 | 35 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 0.227 | 0.297 | 0.275 |
| LF | Kyle | Damian | 19 | 81 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.210 | 0.256 | 0.321 |
| CF | Dave | Riley | 118 | 430 | 66 | 101 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 34 | 67 | 2 | 75 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 0.235 | 0.341 | 0.344 |
| CF | Dave | Corona | 56 | 131 | 16 | 32 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0.244 | 0.298 | 0.344 |
| RF | Bryan | Milton | 114 | 309 | 31 | 82 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 60 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 0.265 | 0.382 | 0.311 |
| RF | Jeremy | Allison | 85 | 228 | 22 | 44 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 49 | 0 | 65 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0.193 | 0.344 | 0.285 |
| RF | Carlos | Guzman | 86 | 179 | 23 | 49 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 25 | 14 | 0 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0.274 | 0.332 | 0.436 |
| RF | Bob | Perez | 14 | 34 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.147 | 0.286 | 0.147 |
| RF | A.J. | Saylor | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.250 | 0.400 | 0.500 |
+ -------- + --------------- + -------------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + ------ + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + -------- + -------- +
John Beard hit 20 homeruns for a team that struggled to hit them - they finished 12th in the league with 67; the next worst team (the A's) hit 81 - and so even though he did very little else, the Royals will be asking him to run it back in 1970. His primary "competition", if you want to call it that, is probably Jorge Mota, who played in 107 games last year as a 4th outfielder and pinch-hitter but couldn't OPS higher than 600.
Dave Riley returns as the team's starting center fielder. He really wasn't so bad last year, considering. He actually led the team with 67 walks, a nice thing for a leadoff hitter to lead the team in, and it's only a little his fault that he only scored 66 times. He'll be challenged by Dave "Cookie Monster" Corona, who was ranked the #7 prospect in baseball in midseason last year but who was also available as a minor league free agent in February of last year. I can't explain it. He's 20 and he didn't look ready yet either at the plate or in the field, but I expect the Royals will have to find a spot for him somewhere.
Right field looks like Carlos Guzman's job to lose. He was... a guy last year, but he did slug a bit better than anyone else on the team. Brian Milton wound up playing most of the games in right last year and while he is back, he's a 38 year old who doesn't do anything but foul off pitches until the other side gets bored and gives him first base.