Royals make amazing turnaround from 106 losses to doorstep of playoffs

The Kansas City Royals did not seem like a prime destination for free agents when last offseason began.

The Royals had the worst record in the major leagues in 2023 when they finished 56-106. Though they had a dynamic young player in shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and played in the city with the best barbeque in the land, it didn’t seem like nearly enough for the Royals to entice veteran players.

Yet when owner John Sherman gave general manager J.J. Picollo the OK to spend over $100 million in free agency, the Royals decided to use the open market to improve their roster. It turned out that there were free agents who liked what Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro were selling, 106 losses be damned.

Right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha bought in along with relievers Will Smith and Chris Stratton, outfielder Hunter Renfroe and utility player Adam Frazier.

“I liked the vision they laid out,” Wacha told Draft Nation. “They felt they had a group of good young players and were better than their record indicated. I was convinced they had a chance to win right away, and it wasn’t a rebuilding situation. Once we got to spring training, it was obvious this team was going to be good.”

It wasn’t so obvious to those on the outside. The rest of the baseball world had low expectations for the Royals when spring training started.

However, that did not bother Quatraro and the players. The Royals set a goal of winning the American League Central.

“Last year we knew what our team was capable of doing just because of what we had, which was a lot of talented players,” Witt said. “We felt we had to prove ourselves right and not prove everyone else wrong. Early in the year, people were already saying, ‘ah, it’s the same old Royals’ and all that stuff but we knew what we were able to do. We knew we were tight in (the clubhouse) and we were going out and win some games.”

The Royals have lived up to their internal expectations. With two weeks left, they have assured themselves of the franchise’s first winning season since 2015, a year in which they beat the New York Mets in the World Series.

Reaching the goal of winning the division is going to be difficult as the Royals trail the first-place Cleveland Guardians by four games. However, the Royals currently hold the AL’s second wild card by 2 ½ games over the division rival Minnesota Twins.

The Royals are in prime position to reach the postseason as their magic number is eight. To put that in perspective, no team in MLB history has ever lost as many as 106 games in a season and made the playoffs the next year.

And it isn’t a fluke that the Royals are in contention. They are seventh in the major leagues in runs allowed and 10th in runs scored.

“Our starting pitching has been outstanding over the course of the year,” Quatraro said. “We run the bases well. We play good defense. We’ve got guys who can hit for power in the middle of the order. We’ve got speed at the top and bottom. We have a diverse team. I think our identity is that we can beat teams in different ways.”

Lugo and Wacha have turned out to be excellent additions. Lugo is 16-8 with a 2.94 ERA and Wacha has a 13-7 record and a 3.29 ERA.

Add in holdovers Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.32) and Brady Singer (9-11, 3.53) and the Royals have the type of starting pitching that would match up well against many teams in October.

Ageless catcher Salvador Perez is having another outstanding season as the 34-year-old is hitting .275 with 27 home runs and 102 RBIs. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino hit 19 home runs and drove in 97 runs before sustaining a season-ending broken hand late last month.

However, Witt is clearly the Royals’ centerpiece player, a 24-year-old who is challenging New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the AL MVP award.

Witt leads the major leagues with a .331 batting average, 121 runs and 198 hits. He also has 31 home runs, 102 RBIs and 28 stolen bases in 150 games.

Despite the free agent additions, the Royals’ biggest offseason move was signing Witt to an 11-year, $288,777,777 contract extension – playing off his uniform No. 7 – just before the start of spring training.

“He’s remarkable,” Quatraro said. “His physical tools jump off the page quickly. The stuff that makes him who he really is, though, is the stuff behind the scenes. The humility and the grace with which he goes about his work and how he treats people. You couldn’t ask for a better representative of an organization than Bobby.”

Said Wacha: “He’s a stud and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Bobby yet. He’s still very young. He’s going to help this franchise win a lot of games in his career.”