Handing Out the Royals Midseason Honors

The Royals finished the first half of the season 52-45. That is a monumental surprise for any realistic Royals fan.

At the start of Spring Training, many Royals fans were hopeful that this team could win at least 75 games. Instead, the Royals are only two games out of the final Wild Card spot and should be better as they continue to add to their roster leading up to the August Trade Deadline (they already boosted their bullpen by acquiring Hunter Harvey).

The second half of the season begins on Friday, as the Royals have a homestand that includes games against the White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Cubs. Only Arizona has a winning record; they are 49-48.

In this post, I will present some awards for the Royals from the first half of this season. This includes honors for positive performances and recognition for some disappointing ones.

Let’s look at the Royals players and stories that stood out the most from the first half of this surprising 2024 season.

Position Player MVP: Bobby Witt, Jr.

This one is easy. Witt has the third-best fWAR in baseball with a 5.7 mark. He also made the most in his first-ever appearance at the All-Star weekend, as he finished just short in the Home Run Derby against the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez in an exciting final.

Witt struck out in his lone appearance in the All-Star game (thanks, Bruce Bochy!), but he made an incredible defensive play to throw out Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna.

The expectations were high for Witt going into the 2024 season, especially after he posted a 5.9 fWAR and 115 wRC+ in 2023. Despite those massive hopes, Witt has lived up to the hype in 2024 and surpassed it in nearly every facet.

Witt may not match his 30-HR and 49-SB pace a season ago, but he’s been a complete hitter, as evidenced by his 152 wRC+ and .323 batting average. Furthermore, he has accumulated a Def of 13.4 runs this season (he had 15 last year). If he doesn’t win the MVP (Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore and Aaron Judge of the Yankees will be tough), he could win his first Gold Glove at the very least.

Salvador Perez has had another stellar year, earning his 9th All-Star appearance in his age-34 season with a 124 wRC+ and 2.0 fWAR. However, no other Royals position player comes close to Witt as the Royals’ most significant impact player in the first half.

Starting Pitcher of the Half: Seth Lugo

Cole Ragans has been good despite questions about his fastball velocity in the first half. After all, this season, he has a 3.5 fWAR and 3.16 ERA in 20 starts and 116.2 IP.

However, though Ragans is the “ace” of this Royals rotation, his season pales slightly to Seth Lugo, who has had a career-best half with the Royals after signing with them this offseason.

In 20 starts and 127 IP, Lugo is posting a 2.48 ERA and 2.8 fWAR. He leads the Royals in wins with 11, and he sports solid control metrics, as evidenced by his 3.87 K/BB ratio, which is only two points lower than what he did last year with the Padres.

Lugo succeeds on the mound with an incredibly diverse pitch mix (he throws eight pitches) and a maniacal approach to studying hitters and previous at-bats. He’s Jaime Moyer with better stuff and a more extensive arsenal. Those traits are a big reason why he’s in the AL Cy Young hunt despite spending most of his career as a reliever with the Mets.

The Royals’ rotation has been a key to their surprising success this year. Not only are Ragans and Lugo all-stars, but Brady Singer and Alec Marsh have also shown tremendous improvement from a year ago. Michael Wacha hasn’t been eye-popping, but he’s been a stable force in the Royals rotation when healthy.

If the Royals want to continue making their playoff push, they will need Lugo to transition this strong first half into the next few months. Lugo has never pitched more than 146.1 innings in his career, so it will be interesting to see how Lugo holds up in the second half.

Relief Pitcher of the Half: James McArthur

The Royals bullpen hasn’t been good, and it’s easy to dismiss this honor altogether. However, McArthur has been the Royals’ most dependable arm in 2024 and will be critical in the second half, even if his role looks a bit hazy after the acquisition of Harvey.

In 36 games and 38.1 IP, McArthur has put up a 3.99 ERA and leads the Royals with 17 saves. His 17 saves are tied for 12th-most in baseball with Carlos Estevez (Angels), David Bednar (Pirates), Pete Fairbanks (Rays), and Camilo Doval (Giants). Estevez and Fairbanks have been rumored to be possible trade targets for the Royals this season.

The “General” doesn’t have the most high-profile fastball in baseball (it averages 95 MPH), but he has a solid four-pitch mix (four-seamer, sinker, curve, and slider), and he limits free passes on the basepaths (1.64 BB/9). Furthermore, besides a subpar May (9.00 ERA), he’s been good as the Royals’ closer in different months (2.63 ERA in March/April, 1.80 ERA in June, and 1.93 ERA in July).

McArthur has one of the nastiest curves in baseball, sporting a Stuff+ of 138 and producing swing-and-miss strikeouts like this one by Chicago’s Andrew Vaughn back in April.

Harvey strengthens the bullpen, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see JJ Picollo grab another reliever or two before the Deadline.

That said, McArthur has been the Royals’ best reliever this half and deserves to keep having opportunities to close out games in the ninth.

Best Bench Player: Freddy Fermin

Dairon Blanco has been the Royals’ best base runner off the bench, as he has 17 stolen bases, the third-most of Royals players this season. However, he has struggled to do much else productively but pinch-run this season.

Garrett Hampson provides stellar defense in the infield and outfield and surprising production at the plate, especially in clutch situations. Unfortunately, he’s been prone to frustrating plays, especially on the basepaths.

Adam Frazier has brought a veteran presence and ability to hit at the leadoff spot, where Maikel Garcia is struggling. That said, Frazier is still sporting an fWAR of -0.3.

On the other hand, Fermin is producing a 1.5 fWAR, 109 wRC+, and is one of the best defensive catchers in the game, especially when it comes to gunning runners out on the basepaths.

There are no areas to find fault with Fermin, at least not for now.

Fermin’s strong 2024 season is a big reason the Royals can conserve Salvy at first base or DH. The Royals pitching staff and catching defense don’t miss a beat, and Fermin also provides surprising production with the bat at the plate.

Most Disappointing Hitter: Maikel Garcia

I had high hopes for Garcia this season after he put up a promising 2.1 fWAR season in 123 games last year. He also still provides Gold Glove defense and has 21 stolen bases, which is the second-best mark for Royals position players.

Garcia seemed to be off to an excellent start to the 2024 season, as he hit a leadoff home run on Opening Day against Twins ace Pablo Lopez.

Unfortunately, things have gone south for Garcia since June. That month, he posted a 10 wRC+ (yes, you read that right), which is a big reason why his overall wRC+ is only 73 in 412 plate appearances. He has bounced his wRC+ to 86 so far in July, but Garcia may have dug himself too much of a hole in June to bounce back.

As a result, Garcia lost his leadoff spot in the batting order and moved around in the infield more frequently since the start of July. The Royals may be grooming Garcia for a long-term utility role (similar to Nicky Lopez), with Picollo perhaps opting for a more permanent third-base option via trade.

That’s not precisely what Royals fans were hoping from Garcia back in March when many thought he could be a long-term option at third and perhaps could be an extension candidate. Those hopes will have to cool down for now as Garcia tries to bounce back in the second half.

Most Disappointing Pitcher: Will Smith

Smith has been better recently, posting a 2.25 ERA in May and a 0.96 ERA in June. However, he’s been weighed down by a disastrous March/April (10.61 ERA), and his July hasn’t gotten off to a great start either (6.00 ERA).

The Royals acquired Smith as their closer or a lefty they could employ in high-leverage situations. Since May, though, he’s primarily been regulated in low-leverage situations against predominantly left-handed hitters. While Smith brings a veteran presence to the bullpen, Matt Quatraro has opted to utilize lefties like Angel Zerpa and Sam Long in critical spots over Smith.

That isn’t a good sign for Smith’s outlook with the Royals, even though he was a member of the last three World Series winners.

Best Series: June 27th-30th vs. Guardians

The Royals took three of four from the Guardians to close out June. This brought their record against Cleveland to 4-2 for the season.

The series didn’t do much damage in the AL Central standings. Cleveland still leads the Royals by seven games at the All-Star Break. However, it did build some much-needed momentum for the Royals, who had their first losing month of the year since March (which was only three games).

Due to the changed schedule structure, the Royals do not play the Guardians again until late August (in Cleveland). It will be interesting to see how both teams perform by then and what their rosters look like since it will be after the Trade Deadline.

Worst Series: June 21st-23rd at Rangers

It looked like the Royals were on their way to trending massively out of playoff contention after getting swept in Arlington over the June 21st- 23rd weekend.

Kansas City looked lifeless in that three-game set, especially on the hitting end. They were out-scored 16-2 and were shut out in the Saturday and Sunday contests. While the Athletics series before the Rangers one was frustrating (they lost two of three in Oakland), getting swept in Arlington was unacceptable, especially with the Rangers being so mediocre this year (they are 46-50 at the break).

Thankfully, the Royals were able to bounce back against the Marlins at Kauffman (they took two of three), which helped them play their best baseball of the season against the Guardians.

Biggest Storyline of the First Half: Royals in Postseason Contention

The 2023 season was one of the worst in the Royals’ history. They tied the franchise record for losses with 106, and it was a year where many fans wondered if Picollo and Quatraro were the right men for the job (and if John Sherman was the right kind of owner for this club, especially after the stadium vote fiasco in April).

Granted, the Royals didn’t take the 2023 season lying down this offseason. Kansas City was one of the most active clubs in the offseason, signing many big names and veterans on both the pitching and hitting end. Furthermore, they locked Witt down to an extension, something many pessimistic Royals fans didn’t think would be possible, especially after a 56-win season.

However, progress is slow and incremental in baseball. Teams rarely get into playoff contention after 100+ loss seasons. Even the Rangers and Diamondbacks, who made the World Series in 2023 after 100+ loss seasons in 2021, still had losing records in 2022.

I expected the Royals to make hopeful progress in 2024. I expected them to win around 74-78 games and finish third or fourth in the division. An 18-24 win turnaround was more than promising for a club that lost 106 games and had one of the worst farm systems in baseball in 2023.

And yet, at the All-Star Break, the Royals are only two games behind in the Wild Card race and seem primed to be buyers at the Trade Deadline (well, responsible buyers, as Sherman doesn’t want to sacrifice the long-term future of the Royals’ farm system).

In February, I would have been happy with the Royals being out of the basement and not competing with the White Sox for “worst team in baseball.”

Instead, the Royals have a puncher’s chance to make the postseason and have set themselves up well still to compete in the Central in 2025 and beyond.

Photo Credit: Jose Juarez | AP

4 thoughts on “Handing Out the Royals Midseason Honors”

    1. Yeah, he wouldn’t cost much, but I don’t know. That’s kind of why I’m find not bringing Greinke back. They need guys who can contribute on the field and aren’t in their twilight years. If we want someone as a coach, just hire them as a coach, you know?

  2. Considering we just gave up a good prospect for a fair to middling reliever, the price tag is attractive. If he were to hit like last year @ half a season, that would still be a .240 hitter with 5 to 8 2nd half home runs. I’ve never been a fan of Longoria, but he is not known for coasting. I do have a problem with Massey’s fragility. Reminds me of a shortstop we recently had who just would not stay healthy…Maikel’s bat, as a 2b, grades better than @ 3b. We should play him there, trade Massey for an outfield bat and play Longoria while the next prospect at 3b gets ready for ’25.

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