The Royals held their second annual “Royals Rally” at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday, February 3rd. The pre-season event basically takes the place of the former “FanFest” that used to take place at Bartle Hall (i.e. the Downtown Convention Center) in late January.

The 2024 version of the Royals Rally was very similar structure-wise to the 2023 inaugural event.

There were three “sessions” on the day which ran about two hours long each. There were autograph sessions for both general and VIP ticket holders. VIP holders also got $20 of loaded value on their digital ticket to purchase food and beverage items in the Diamond Club area, where most of the action took place.

Much like last year, there were positives and drawbacks to the structure of the “Royals Rally”, especially when compared to “Fanfest”, with the latter taking place in January 2020, right before the COVID pandemic.

In this post, I will look at three pros and two cons of this year’s “Royals Rally” and whether the event will be worth continuing in its current form going forward.

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Pro: Being at Kauffman Stadium Gets You Ready for Baseball Season

While FanFest at Bartle Hall had more space and things to do, the Rally being at Kauffman Stadium does get fans fired up easily for baseball season, especially Opening Day on March 28th.

It’s nice to not just be in the Truman Sports Complex again, but be back in and around the K, even if it means waiting in line in the cold, which was the case for those who came to the 10 a.m. session like myself.

Rolling in. Man it feels great to be back at the K #Royals #WelcomeToTheCity pic.twitter.com/JKSqlr0587

— Kev ⚾️🇵🇭 (@RoyalReportKev) February 3, 2024

Even though many sports fans in Kansas City probably got their sports fix at Truman Sports Complex during Chiefs football season, there’s something different and special about seeing everyone in blue and white at Kauffman Stadium. Royals fans were properly decked out on Saturday, with a mix of jerseys, KC ballcaps, and other Royals apparel in full force at the 10 a.m. session. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see so much blue and white, especially with the Chiefs set to play in another Super Bowl next Sunday.

I’m guessing the Royals’ aggressive offseason had an effect on the Royals fanbase showing a lot more Royals pride at this year’s event compared to last year’s, which seemed to have more fans in Chiefs gear in anticipated of their Super Bowl matchup against the Eagles.

In addition to seeing more people walking around in Royals gear, it was also fun to walk around the concourse, the Diamond Club, as well as in the Team and Authentics Store, where they had great deals on apparel and Merchandise. I always try to buy an “authentic” jersey every year of a more obscure player whether past or present. This year, I was able to buy a gray Carlos Hernandez one (last year I bought a blue Dairon Blanco one).

There’s still over a month until the Royals begin the 2024 season against the Minnesota Twins. Nonetheless, being at the K for the Royals Rally made it feel like Opening Day is a lot closer time-wise.

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Cons: Session Format Continues to Make the Experience Feel Rushed

The great thing about FanFest at Bartle Hall is that once you get into the event, it’s kind of a “choose your own experience at your leisure” kind of deal

Want to sit down and listen to player and coach interviews? You can do that. Want to grab a beer or hot dog and chat it up with Royals fans? You can do that. Want to scour merchandise to find deals? That’s possible. Want to get as many autographs as possible? Go right ahead. Want to do a combination of all those things? If you have the time, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to do all those things in the current format.

I am not an autograph guy, so I went straight to the seating area to hear the outfielder and coach interviews with Ryan Lefebvre (the image is of the latter). Those were super enjoyable, and I liked that this year they added a long Q&A segment with the fans (I can’t remember if they did that last year, but if they did, it wasn’t as long).

However, if you were getting autographs, whether VIP or general, it’s likely that you missed out on one of those interviews.

That’s a bummer because the interviews were clearly the highlight of the Rally. I wish I could get a ticket to just listen to all the interviews during the day, which included the infielders, pitchers and catchers, and JJ Picollo and owner John Sherman (then again, I hope one day this blog can somehow get a press pass so I could be able to come to a postgame press conference).

For those autograph hounds though, that’s a tougher compromise, and I heard from some online, both on X and on the Farm to Fountains Discord, that some were bummed that they had to rush through autographs to get to the interviews. Furthermore, while they had a lot of food and beverage options available, it was hard to just sit around and chat, because things were congested in the Diamond Club, and due to the time limit.

Lastly, in the Authentics Store, I got kind of shooed out because it was noon which was the end of my session. I was trying to get a Gold KC blue hat (which is discontinued) but couldn’t find any in my size. It’s possible that they were there, but due to the time crunch, I didn’t have the time to look.

I get why the Royals need to do the sessions in that format and why they need to keep a strict schedule. That area where the Rally took place can only handle so many bodies.

That said, if the Royals Rally is going to continue, they need to either open things up a bit more in the Stadium or simply move it back to Bartle Hall.

Two hours just isn’t enough for any Royals fans, both casual and passionate.

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Pros: The Interviews Continue to Be Great

Even though I only got to see two sets of interviews, I thought Ryan and the Royals team did a great job with both their questions and the mix of players available.

In my first (and maybe last) FanFest, I felt the interview pairings were a little more random and the questions weren’t as great. Plus, the Q&A sessions dragged a bit, and we ended up getting questions from fans that really weren’t questions (one guy in 2020 claimed that the Royals were going to the playoffs in his opinion). This time around in 2024, it seemed like the groupings were great, and they had a nice balance of young guys and veterans with each player group.

Of the outfielders, Melendez and Renfroe were the most outspoken, which makes sense considering MJ has been a main face of the Royals the past couple of seasons and Renfroe was their biggest free agent acquisition this offseason.

Renfroe is an interesting personality and I’m curious to see how he will be in this locker room. On one level, he’s probably as outspoken as Salvy, as Renfroe commanded the mic with story after story. He’s from Mississippi and it’s apparent as soon as he speaks. That’s not a bad thing, that just kind of shows his personality. He’s as Southern as it gets.

The Royals didn’t have a personality like Renfroe last year, and his presence could be a good or bad thing, depending on how the year goes. Renfroe seemed to impart a lot of knowledge to the Royals fans in attendance, which makes sense considering the number of organizations he has played for (Padres, Red Sox, Rays, Brewers, Angels, Reds, and now Royals).

That said, he took a long time to get to his point, and I’m curious to see how the young guys will respond. Zack Greinke was a leader, but he wasn’t a “rah-rah” kind of guy. Salvy is more vocal, but he’s more of a positive one and the language barrier also limits what he can say. Other than that, the Royals didn’t really have many other veteran leaders in the clubhouse.

Renfroe has a lot of Whit Merrifield vibes honestly. When things were going well, Whit was a great leader who seemed to have a command of the clubhouse. However, when it seemed like the torch was being passed to Witt, it seemed like Whit didn’t handle that the most graciously. I’m not saying Renfroe is going to do that or has that same personality, but those are just the vibes I got.

Right now, I think Renfroe’s presence is a positive. That is good because this clubhouse and young group need all the veteran presence they can get, especially at the beginning of the season when they need to avoid another slow start (which was also brought up by a fan during the coach’s session, ironically).

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Cons: Lack of Other Amenities

One thing that was nice for Season Ticket Members was that we were able to get our STM bobbleheads at the Rally this year. Last season, we couldn’t get them until Opening Day and it was a chaotic process to acquire them (due to the general sold-out capacity of Opening Day). It was nice that they gave it to us earlier this year so we don’t have to worry about it on March 28th.

The STM lounge was also nice and something that they didn’t have last year. Not only could we get our bobbleheads, but there was also complimentary coffee, donuts, and beverages. Once again, the Royals continue to treat season ticket holders well, even among the club’s struggles. I have heard horror stories of what it’s like to be an STM for some clubs like Oakland and Chicago (South Side version).

Other than the lounge though? There just wasn’t a lot to do. I guess they did add a pop-a-shot but that was random and seemed just thrown in (and you know, it’s a baseball stadium, not a basketball arena). That was one of the nice things about FanFest: There were a lot of other attractions there that made it great for Royals fans of all varieties, especially the younger ones who are more active.

Again, so much depends on the time, and I know the Royals can’t add too much if the sessions remain two hours. However, if they do decide to expand the time or area available to access Kauffman at future Rally events, I hope there is more to do.

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Pros: The Outlook is More “Set” For This Season

Last year at the Rally, the players and coaches seemed to generate a lot of encouragement for the upcoming season. However, with so much of the rhetoric coming from young guys, it was hard to gauge what the exact goals were for the upcoming year.

That wasn’t an issue at this Royals Rally. Whether it came from Melendez, Renfroe, Kyle Isbel, Drew Waters, Quatraro, or hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, the message was super clear: the Royals are ready to get better and compete in the division in 2024.

It was interesting to hear that Q’s managing style, especially when it comes to lineups, won’t change much. He still plans on using a deep bench (which makes sense; he mentioned that you can’t have guys sit for two weeks and then expect them to produce especially young ones). That said, they didn’t mention “evaluation” much, if at all, on Saturday. They talked mostly about how disappointing last year was, but how they have taken the steps to learn from it and improve for 2024.

These kinds of events always steer toward the positive end, and honestly, are full of cliches. That said, I do feel like the Royals will be taking a step forward in 2024, and I think there will not just be some tremendous disappointment if they don’t, but some major changes as well. The only issue is I’m not sure how much of an improvement we will see.

Will we see an improvement from 56 to 67 or 68 wins? Or will we see something more dramatic? Maybe in the 75 to 80-win range?

It feels like the coaching staff and players are aiming for the latter…

I guess we will see what the vibes will look like not just at camp in Surprise next week when pitchers and catchers report, but when the season begins on March 28th as well.