By the time we hit Friday, March 27th, it’ll be 180 days since the Kansas City Royals played a regular-season game. So much has changed since then; the Royals have been active, trading and signing players to fill the holes in their roster from last season.
In fact, three different Royals who started that afternoon game in Sacramento are guaranteed to not be on the Opening Day roster – John Rave, Adam Frazier and Mike Yastrzemski. Sam Long even pitched an inning in that game! He’s not even playing
baseball in this country anymore.
With injuries and other guys dealing with some nagging stuff or straight up underperforming while battling for a roster spot against someone else, who makes your final cut for the Opening Day roster? Remember, rosters have to be finalized by Wednesday.
Here are the locks to make the team:
A rotation of Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic, and Noah Cameron.
The bullpen will be Lucas Erceg, Carlos Estévez, Nick Mears, John Schreiber, and Matt Strahm. Bailey Falter and Daniel Lynch IV seem likely to make it, barring a trade. Alex Lange likely has the inside track with veteran non-roster invitees Jose Cuas, Eli Morgan, Héctor Neris, and Aaron Sanchez competing for a spot. Ryan Bergert, Mitch Spence, Luinder Avila, and Steven Cruz have all been assigned to the minors.
For the hitters, the ten locks are: Salvador Perez, Carter Jensen, Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, Vinnie Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr., Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas. Isaac Collins and Michael Massey have been battling injury. Tyler Tolbert, Drew Waters, and Nick Loftin could be in the mix, and non-roster invitees Jorge Alfaro, Elias Diaz, Josh Rojas, Kevin Newman, Abraham Toro, Brandon Drury and Connor Kaiser all seem likely headed to Omaha.
Who do you think makes the final cut to start to season with the Royals?
