Michael Massey came into the season with high expectations after a very stellar 2024 season in which he played 100 games and posted 1.6 bWAR as he slashed .259/.294/.449 for a .743 OPS, eight percent above
the league average. It appeared that the plan had been for him to hold down second base, at least against right-handed pitchers, while Maikel Garcia solidified third and newcomer Jonathan India spelled him (Massey, that is) against lefties while otherwise playing left field.
Alas, best laid plans of mice and men, and all of that.
Looking for a culprit, it’s easy to find one: injuries. Injuries certainly derailed Massey’s 2025 season. As described in this article by Anne Rogers, Massey went through the ringer. There were the following calamities:
- Left ankle sprain
- Hairline fracture in the right wrist
- Flu
- Back
The last is the most concerning, because it’s a back injury. Those suckers stick around. Just ask an old person, like me, and I’m not even that old.
But that wasn’t Massey’s first rodeo with a back issue. He’s fought them before, as Rogers wrote, even going back to his college days.
To Massey’s credit, he managed to return to the Royals later in the season. He first went on the Injured List around June 7 and returned to the Majors on August 25. That’s a lot of time missed, but again, he suffered some three setbacks while rehabbing from his initial sprained ankle injury.
When the season concluded, the numbers, as probably expected, weren’t pretty and were significantly worse than in 2024. His bWAR dipped to below replacement-level, -0.1. He slashed .244/.268/.313 for a .581 OPS, which was 37% below league average. His defense at second remained stellar, and for the first time in his career, he played some outfield. He was fine.
Digging deeper into his offensive numbers, his ISO plummeted along with his walk rate and exit velocity. His strikeout rate dropped slightly, which is good, but that may have been at the cost of hitting the ball hard, as his hard-hit percentage dropped to a career-low 33%, down nearly 4% from 2024.
A healthy Massey would’ve gone a long way in 2025. Unfortunately, he missed most of June, all of July, and most of August. And when he was around, he looked sapped by the injuries.
2026 is make-it-or-break-it.
Season Grade: D
