Target & Avoid KANSAS CITY ROYALS

Let’s continue with the American League Central.

Next in line are the KC Royals. A team with over-hyped up and comers along with many young veterans. A team that can hit double after double but also has WTP…Warning Track Power. Many HRs come to die just short of the fences in KC. You will hear lots of pre-season hype about the Royals because of their young guns and that the All-Star game will be showcased there. But we are here to analyze the realities of Fantasy Baseball and who will help and hurt us come draft day.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

TARGET

Billy Butler 1B-DH

Butler only played 11 games last year at 1B so check your league settings to see if he qualifies at 1B, if not he will be relegated to your UTIL spot. To me that’s fine. He is the perfect player for that spot. He will not be benched in interleague play; he will get starts at 1B. His inability to qualify at 1B will shy away many owners come draft day and therefore drop his value. All the better, he can be plucked in the early double digit rounds and give you solid production. He will be 26 this year and has dropped a few pounds working with hitting coach Kevin Seitzer’s off-seasonwork out regiment. Expect some of those 45 doubles to become homers this year. He will be hitting clean-up so expect more RBI than in the past. My projection for him is 91 Runs, 24HR, 97 RBI, while hitting over .300

AVOID

Mike Moustakas

Moustakas will be another over hyped sophomore who will be taken many rounds to early. If you look at some of his production from last year many of his stats are alarming. He hit only .194 with RISP, .143 with RISP and 2 outs. He had a pop out rate of 17.5% for one month, thats a ton of infield flyouts. He has only 49 BB in 851 ABs between AAA and the Majors. Last year he swung at 35.5% pitches outside the strike zone. That grip it and rip it approach does not fare well against quality pitchers. He also only hit .191 against lefties. Once the season starts and he starts to struggle he will soon be hitting 8^th in the Royals line-up and we know that is not where you want your drafted 3B to be hitting. My projections for him are: 65Runs, 16 HR, 66 RBI, 3 SB while hitting .255