It hasn’t been a great year for the Kansas City Royals, as they sit 19-52 going into a three-game road series against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
As expected for a team that’s in last place in the AL Central, manager Matt Quatraro and the Royals coaching staff have been a target for many frustrated Royals fans, especially on social media.
Royals fans were expecting more from Quatraro in his first season, especially since he came over from Tampa Bay, and was a fresh change of pace from former manager Mike Matheny, who failed to produce a winning season in his three seasons as Royals manager.
Granted, the hot seat for Q isn’t as hot among the fanbase as Oli Marmol in St. Louis or even former Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol in Chicago, who seems like a legitimate candidate to be fired after underperforming with a club that won the AL Central easily back in 2021.
Q and this coaching will probably get at least one more season in Kansas City, especially since expectations were low for this team going into the season (at least with realistic Royals fans). Nonetheless, his tenure certainly hasn’t been encouraging either on the pitching or hitting end this season.
Going into Monday, the Royals’ hitting ranks 29th in OBP, and 28th in OPS and runs scored. As for the pitching, the starting staff ranks 27th in ERA and 24th in WHIP and the bullpen ranks 28th in both ERA and WHIP, as of June 19th.
Safe to say, it’s not surprising that the Royals are 33 games under .500 and 16.5 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins (who are 36-36 by the way) as of June 19th.
That said, this season hasn’t been totally bereft of positives. The improvement in infield defense in Kansas City is something that should be noted, even if it gets lost among the hitting and pitching struggles this year.
Let’s take a look at the Royals’ infield defense issues a year ago, how it’s improved, and why Royals fans should be hopeful about this area shortly.
The Royals’ Struggles in the Infield in 2022
The Royals’ outfield has been solid the past couple of seasons, highlighted by Gold Glove performances from Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor in 2021. However, it’s been a bit of a different story for the infield, especially last season.
Last season, the Royals ranked 17th overall in fielding outs above average, according to Savant. Unfortunately, their OAA total was heavily weighed down by their infield defense, which ranked 23rd in baseball with a -7 OAA mark, which can be seen below.
Regarding Fangraphs’ Def rankings, they ranked 8th overall in 2022 by totaling 11 runs above average. On the flip side, that strong total was primarily fueled by the strong defensive play from their outfielders, which can be seen in the defensive metrics from individual Royals last year which totaled 250 or more innings.
Only Nicky Lopez and Whit Merrifield posted marks above zero when it came to defensive runs above average (i.e. Def) from infielders. Michael Massey did post a zero mark, which isn’t bad (but isn’t good either).
As for every other infielder, they were below average according to the Def metric last season.
The biggest contributor to the Royals’ infield struggles in 2022 was Bobby Witt, Jr. who struggled in nearly every defensive metric, especially at shortstop. He not only was 3.6 runs below average according to Def, but he was also 9 outs below average on an OAA basis, 6.5 runs below average on a UZR end, and 18 runs below average according to DRS (defensive runs saved).
Other than Salvador Perez and MJ Melendez, both catchers, there wasn’t a worse player than Witt on the defensive end, especially since he rated negatively in nearly every major defensive category at shortstop in 2022.
Hence, it wasn’t surprising to see many Royals fans and analysts this offseason question whether or not Witt deserved to be the Royals’ everyday shortstop in 2023, especially with options like Lopez available at the Major League level and Maikel Garcia at the Minor League level.
After the Royals fired Matheny, it seemed pretty clear what the goal needed to be from Quatraro and his coaching staff this offseason and Spring Training:
Improve the Royals’ infield defense and particularly the shortstop defense of Witt.
The Royals’ Hiring of Jose Alguacil
On December 1st, not too long after the Royals hired Quatraro, the Royals announced the hiring of pitching coach Brian Sweeney and infield coach Jose Alguacil.
The pitching coach announcement was a big deal, especially considering how bad things got under former pitching coach Cal Eldred. That said, the Royals’ announcement of Alguacil was an interesting one that went under the radar with many Royals fans, especially since the Royals never had a designated infield coach under Matheny.
The appointment of Alguacil to the position was a big one that demonstrated how big of a priority it was for JJ Picollo and Quatraro to improve the infield defense in 2023, especially with infielders like Witt, Massey, and Vinnie Pasquantino expected to be starting on Opening Day (which indeed was the case), as well as other infielders like Garcia and Samad Taylor expected to contribute at some point in 2023 (which also has been the case).
A former member of the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals coaching staffs, Alguacil seemed to bring not only new energy, but new drills and approaches to Royals infielders that they weren’t previously exposed to in 2022 under Matheny, as illustrated in a piece about Alguacil by MLB.com Royals beat writer Anne Rogers.
Here’s an example of what new ideas brought to the Royals fielders, especially Witt, early on in spring camp in Surprise back in February.
“We’re going to get the maximum potential out of [Witt] and let him be great,” Alguacil said. “He needs to work on his footwork and first step. We’ve also talked about his release point. Help him understand what a shortstop has to do to be good at the big league level. He has the potential, no doubt about it. He’s a young kid, and things in the big leagues move faster. But he’s grasping it all and adjusting it very well.”
Alguacil’s drills aren’t what the Royals are used to; Witt quickly embraced the use of high-velocity machines to take ground balls. Quatraro also brought over a drill that the Royals did before batting practice on Tuesday: A coach flipped a ball to the manager, who hit it hard around the field — harder than the fungoes typically hit during defensive work.
“It’s high pace,” Witt said. “It makes the game kind of slower. Last year, I sped it up too much myself. I was trying to play the game quicker than it needed to be played. My 80% is what I need to be playing at because sometimes I get going too quickly and just need to slow down.”
“Alguacil putting Royals’ infielders to test” by Anne Rogers; MLB.com
Alguacil also brought an approach that seemed to champion the usage of video and making little adjustments on the fly with footwork, based on what the tape showed.
Matt Duffy, who was coached by Alguacil during Duffy’s time with the Giants, advocated the methods of Alguacil back in Spring Training, which showed that there was veteran buy-in from Royals players as well.
When infielder Matt Duffy signed a Minor League deal with the Royals this offseason, he was talking to Quatraro when he learned Alguacil was on the coaching staff. Alguacil was Duffy’s coordinator in the Giants’ system, and Duffy has sent video to Alguacil throughout the years to get pieces of advice.
“I love his mindset,” Duffy said. “He’ll go, ‘Hey, your footwork is [bad], let’s go to work.’ Instead of just letting me fail for two weeks before I go beg for his help. He loves to work, and he’s going to make everyone out there better.”
“Alguacil putting Royals’ infielders to test” by Anne Rogers; MLB.com
There indeed were doubters that the Royals’ infield defense could improve, especially Witt at shortstop, as he was slightly better at the hot corner in 2022, and many believed he would be better utilized there over eventual Opening Day third baseman Hunter Dozier.
Despite the naysayers though, the Royals’ infield defense has gotten off to a sterling start through the first half of the 2023 season.
Royals Infield Defense Improves Considerably (Especially Witt and Massey)
Even though the Royals’ overall record isn’t impressive, the defensive metrics, especially of Royals infielders in 2023, have been the inverse.
Going into Monday’s series against the Tigers, the Royals rank 1st overall in OAA with a 15-outs-above-average total as an infield group, according to Savant.
A big reason for the Royals’ improvement in the infield has particularly been two-fold:
1.) They replaced defensive drains at third base like Dozier and Emmanuel Rivera with Garcia and Lopez. 2.) They saw massive improvements from Witt and Massey this year from a season ago.
Both those improvements can be seen in the individual Royals OAA table comparison below.
Here’s a look at the OAA metrics of Royals infielders from 2022.
And now let’s take a look at what the Royals infielders have done this season, as of June 19th.
Witt has taken a huge step forward, as he improved his OAA from -11 in 2022 to +6 in 2023, which is a 17-out improvement. Massey has also seen a big jump, as he improved from a -4 OAA in 2022 to a +3 OAA in 2023, a seven-out positive spike.
In addition, Nicky has continued to be solid with a +6 OAA, primarily at the hot corner, and Garcia has also been the Royals’ best infielder on an OAA basis, as he has been seven outs above average this year, according to Savant.
Last season, the Royals were eight outs below average at third with a combination of Rivera and Dozier. Thus, the Royals have seen a 21-out improvement this season at the hot corner.
That is a good sign that the Royals’ outlook at third base should be in good hands, even if (or when) Nicky is traded away by the Trade Deadline.
And it’s not just OAA where the Royals infielders, particularly Massey and Witt, shine. Let’s take a look at the Royals’ advanced infield metrics from the 2023 season thus far, via Fangraphs.
Remember how Witt was one of the Royals’ worst overall non-catching fielders in 2022? Well, in 2023, he’s jumped to the top of the list for Royals fielders in the category of Def. In addition, Garcia ranks 2nd in Def, Massey third, and Lopez fifth and sixth for his defense at third and second this year, respectively.
The infield defense is no longer a weakness of this team like it was a year ago.
Rather, it’s a strength, with the potential to be a long-term building block thanks to Witt, Garcia, and Massey.
Possible Issues
While the Royals’ infielders rank strongly in OAA and Def, DRS paints a bit of a different story.
Witt is posting a -4 DRS at SS, and Massey is posting a -3 DRS at 2B. While those are both individual improvements from a season ago, it shows that there is some data out there that still is hazy about this Royals infield defense and their outlook for the remainder of 2023.
To be fair though, DRS is down overall about the Royals’ defense this season, as they rank 26th overall in DRS, as of Monday.
Will Royals fans see some regression from Witt, Massey, and the other Royals infielders in the second half of the season (as DRS alludes)? Or will the Royals’ DRS stats improve and more closely align with what we are seeing from OAA and Def?
Those are certainly tough questions to answer for now, though they will become clearer over the next few months of the season.
Without a doubt, how the Royals infield fares defensively could guide Picollo and the Royals front office when it comes to who to extend and who to perhaps trade away.
Regardless of the long-term outlook for Witt, Massey, and the other Royals infielders, this much can be said:
The Royals infield defense improvement under Alguacil and Q has been one of the few bright spots for this team this season.
And during a season without many positives, Royals fans will take what we can get.
Photo Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Mr. O’B, thx for the illuminating dets on the infield D. I knew it was improved, especially BWJ, but I didn’t realize it was that much better overall. Indeed, it bodes well for the future. Very surprised to see Pratto’s number so bad. Any thoughts as to why?
To be honest, first base defense is always really tough to gauge and tends to rate on the lower end due to fewer plays and the difficulty of evaluating scooping ability. For example, Eric Hosmer won a Gold Glove, but metrically he rated pretty poorly. Typically it’s due to lateral movement, as Pratto hasn’t been able to make the kind of lateral plays that would rate him higher. That said, he also hasn’t gotten consistent playing time at first due to Vinnie. With Vinnie out, I think he’ll get better on those plays, which will improve his metrics.
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