This past offseason Kansas City has shown they were willing to move on from struggling players, even if their defense is some of the best in the majors. Baseball for years has been a league where if you can't hit, you're out of a big league job.
The Royals under JJ Picollo have had shorter leashes on players. With that being said, Kyle Isbel's time in a Royals uniform may be running out. Fortunately for Isbel, Kansas City's Triple-A outfield depth is very thin other than Nick Pratto in terms of players that have pop in their bats. Aside from Pratto, the only outfielder in Omaha with big league experience is Drew Waters. Waters has been a disappointment to say the least. Waters came to Kansas City via trade with the Braves back in 2022 for the 35th pick for that year's draft.
Even with good play in Omaha, that doesn't mean a player is one flight away from returning to Kansas City. That's right, Nick Pratto. Pratto at this point in his career has primarily played first base. Pratto playing first base isn't surprising at all with him being a first baseman when Kansas City drafted him out of high school back in the first round of the 2017 MLB draft. The 25-year old, along with his first base duties, can play in the outfield as well. The former first round pick has 29 big league games under his belt in the outfield.
Aside from Isbel's struggles, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has struggled at the plate in the first seven games played this season. In Pasquantino's small sample size of seven games, he has batted way below the Mendoza line with an average of .120. That being said, Pasquantino's not guaranteed to remain at first base if his struggles continue; but Pasquantino may have a longer leash than Isbel in part of not having as much big league experience and Pasquantino’s ability to hit the ball hard. Pratto's ability to play in the outfield may also give Pasquantino some breathing room as well. Although Pratto only has 29 games in the outfield, fans are calling for the Royals to give him more playing time in the outfield.
Kansas City will likely mix and match who plays what position in the outfield throughout the season if Pratto is recalled to the majors. Drew Waters is another option the team could turn to if Isbel continues to struggle. Waters is similar to Isbel, but he doesn't have good numbers in the majors. The 25-year old has played a total of 130 games for the Royals in two seasons combined. In the 130 games played, Waters owns a career .231 average in 398 plate appearances. In Waters' 398 appearances, he has a total of 13 home runs and 50 RBI's. Isbel's inability to stay healthy may put another nail in the coffin. Back in February, Isbel sat down with beat writer Anne Roger's and discussed his hopes to stay healthy:
"Staying healthy is the only thing on my mind.” Isbel continued to discuss his hopes of being able to stay on the field:
"Obviously, at Kauffman, you’re running a lot out there,” Isbel said. “Being conditioned is one of the things that I overlooked. But it catches up over 162 games. So being able to stay in shape and keeping your body where it needs to be, I think, is the key for this year.”
Health isn't the only thing holding the outfielder back. The 27-year old owns a career .234 average with 12 home runs and 72 RBI's in addition to only 19 stolen bases. Aside from Pratto, Isbel has no big names knocking on the door to steal centerfield from him. The outfielder must take advantage of this opportunity. As mentioned earlier in the article, Isbel isn't great with a bat in his hand. Isbel, like a few other players on the big league roster or the forty man roster such as Nick Pratto must improve their offensive numbers if they want to be part of the team's long-term plans. Pratto this past spring had an incredible spring. The 25-year old posted a batting average of .421 with four home runs in only 38 at bats. Unlike centerfield, Pratto's path to Kansas City has been difficult with Vinnie Pasquantino playing first base on a daily basis. Fortunately for Pratto, Pasquantino is injury prone. Pratto may be able to play in the outfield but centerfield is one position he is unlikely to play. The Royals seem to still believe in Isbel after not adding a center fielder in free agency. And despite his struggles at the plate last season, he ended the season on a high note. In the month of September, Isbel was great at the plate with a .267 batting average in 15 games. The power still wasn't there in the month of September, and the .267 average was in part due to 12 hits and 13 runs. The outfielder must improve at the plate. That's no question and he can do it without smacking the ball out of the yard. Kansas City has plenty of other players that can make up for Isbel's lack of power in Salvador Perez and many others. The Royals had similar players like Isbel in the past that got on base and brought runs in without much power such as outfielder Michael A Taylor and infielder Nicky Lopez. Both Taylor and Lopez had great speed allowing them to turn a single into a double and sometimes a double into a triple leading to more run production. What could lead to Kansas City parting ways with Isbel? The answers are obvious: if his struggles continue with the bat and his injuries sideline him continuously. Aside from his struggles, I believe the outfielder, if healthy, can be a player the team can rely on to play centerfield everyday and be a productive bat in the lower part of the lineup.
