It’s still hard to believe that the Kansas City Royals went to two straight World Series in 2014 and 2015, winning the 2015 title, if you look at the state of the team today. The Royals have a storied history, as they went to the postseason seven times between 1976 and 1985, dominating the American League West in years when the Oakland A’s weren’t winning it. However, they only had one winning season between 1995 and 2012 before briefly entering contender status again.
Entering the 2023 season, the Royals are deeply mired in another rebuilding project, so let’s take a look at their prospects as you plan out your sports betting for the upcoming MLB betting season.
2023 MLB Betting Predictions for the Kansas City Royals
The Royals Will Finish Dead Last in the AL Central
The 2022 season saw Kansas City lose 97 games, and in the off-season, the team’s All-Star, Andrew Benintendi, left town. It’s all about the youth movement in Kansas City now, with Salvador Perez the only regular who is older than 27. The good thing about going with a youth movement is that you tend to see more hunger and effort, and the front office has an easier time shipping players back and forth to and from the minors if their seasons aren’t going well.
The Royals Will Learn what Gavin Cross Can Do
The team took Cross last year with the ninth overall pick in the draft, and he raked against A-ball pitching. He hit .293 and launched seven home runs in just 26 games. He polished his batting technique at Virginia Tech, and he shows patience at the plate that many MLB veterans could do well to emulate. Expect him to begin 2023 at High-A and get to Double-A by June if the hitting continues. That means that we could end up seeing him with the big club when rosters expand in September.
Adalberto Mondesi Will Be the Team’s Top Trade Asset…
Mondesi has frustrated the fans and the front office with his inconsistent production and his ongoing injury history. However, the team brought him back for just about $3 million, which isn’t a big chunk. The Royals could use him as a utility player who can run and hit with some pop coming off the bench. He could be the latest version of Jurickson Profar, who entered the big leagues with sky-high expectations, fell short of those, but has proven to be a terrific utility glove and bat for San Diego. With that low salary, even the small-market contenders might be enticed to trade for him, making his price even higher on the market.
…Not Named Scott Barlow
Owner John Sherman has talked about the importance of turning the roster over to speed up the rebuild, so if he really wants to follow the small-market path to contention that Tampa Bay and Cleveland followed, then he will want to see what the team can get for Scott Barlow. He posted a 2.18 ERA over 74.1 innings last year, striking out 77 batters. However, his strikeout rate and his velocity both plunged last year. If he can still get batters out as efficiently, he should still draw significant offers from buyers at the trade deadline, but the time to move on him is 2023.
Bobby Witt Jr Emerges as a Quality Shortstop
There were times when Witt’s defense looked elite in 2022, but there were also times when he didn’t help the team out. His Defensive Runs Saved stat was tied for dead last in MLB…with his teammate, M.J. Melendez, just another reason why the Royals dropped 97 contests. He made 19 errors in 2022 – eight coming in the first three weeks after the All-Star break. Some of this had to do with inexperience, and some of this had to do with playing a 162-game season for the first time. He looks like he can follow the trajectory of the likes of Marcus Semien and Tim Anderson, who started out error-prone but developed into dependable defenders.
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