Kansas City Royals news: Less fence, more home runs?

If someone says size doesn’t matter, just point them to the Kansas City Royals moving the fences in Kauffman Stadium.

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What is the story about?

The Kansas City Royals were the talk of baseball yesterday with their decision to move in the fences at Kauffman Stadium. First, listen to team leadership on that move here.

What does that look like in real life? Some rough draft vision:

ESPN’s Jeff Passan looks at some of the process before the move was made

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Kansas City has modified its fences in the past, moving them in 10 feet between 1995 and

2003 and seeing it play as a slightly above-average home run park. The Royals returned to the stadium’s original dimensions in 2004, and over the past two decades have seen ball after ball die on the warning track, prompting Picollo this spring to finally approach owner John Sherman and ask permission to authorize a study on the effects of a potential modification.

Given the go-ahead, Picollo tasked Dr. Daniel Mack, the Royals’ vice president of research and development and an assistant GM, to consider all the factors and make a recommendation. Mack, who has a Ph.D. in computer science and earned a master’s with a concentration in machine learning, had the benefit of a far more robust set of data than was available even 10 years ago, with detailed information on wind and temperature information capable of being factored in.

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino sounded off on Twitter regarding the fences coming in. David Lesky also looked at Pasquantino’s potential in 2025 here too.

Kansas City Star’s Jaylon Thompson had the insight from Royals general manager J.J. Picollo on how this could have changed things for shortstop Bobby Witt Jr..

Witt is among the best contact hitters in the league. He now has more opportunities to elevate his extra-base totals. Meanwhile, Caglianone has immense power that could develop with more hitter-friendly confines. “(Witt) is one of the players that was probably most negatively impacted by our ballpark when it comes to flyball run production,” Picollo said. “So we have reason to believe that his production will go up.”

The Star’s Pete Grathoff also had some reactions from current and former Kansas City players, including Brent Rooker, Whit Merrifield, and Drew Butera.

MLB.com’s Anne Rogers looks at the move and how this could, or couldn’t change things for the Royals.

The K has the second-largest playing field area in the Majors, at 115,737 feet. There’s a ton of outfield where balls can fall, but not necessarily go over the wall. The Royals have historically constructed their team to fit the ballpark in which they play: Employing good pitching and good defense to allow for the spacious park while prioritizing speed and baserunning to take advantage of doubles and triples.

That’s still who the Royals want to be — just with more homers.

“Our goal here isn’t to have an offensive ballpark,” Picollo said. “It’s to have a very fair ballpark. We don’t want it to turn into a bandbox and every ball up in the air turns into a home run. We just want hitters to be rewarded when they hit the ball well, particularly in the gaps.”

The Athletic also had some thoughts about moving the fences in. Royals Keep tossed their thoughts in too.

Lesky looks at the AL Central offseason so far, but does winning the transaction wire war really matter?

What’s so interesting about this division is that it doesn’t always mean the best offseason matters in who takes the top spot. Last year, Cleveland traded Eli Morgan, Andres Gimenez, Nick Sandlin, Josh Naylor, Myles Straw and Tyler Freeman (some of these players are better than others) and acquired Luis Ortiz, Slade Cecconi, Carlos Santana, Paul Sewald and Jakob Junis and still won the division. Of course, it wasn’t an easy division win given that they were 12 games back at the break and 10.5 games back at the start of September. But it’s a reminder that winning the offseason doesn’t mean everything.

Craig Brown ponders if Jonathan India can find “value in being average.”

When I began this exercise, I thought the conclusion would be for India to be more aggressive at the plate. Not being so passive and not falling behind in the count early would better tip the scales in his favor. Given his results last season in favorable hitting counts, now I’m not so certain. And given his batted ball data, I continue to think he’s just not the best fit for Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals need to get somewhere around 1.0 fWAR to get a positive return on their $8 million investment. It’s not an insane ask, even though India finished with negative fWAR last year, he posted a 2.9 fWAR as recently at 2024. Bad defense doesn’t help, but he should be improve there in 2026 if the Royals keep his glove out of the outfield.

Baseball America released their top Royals prospects, and had some specifics on fast-rising pitcher David Shields.

We’ve got multiple questions on David Shields so I’ll cover him here. Don’t be too concerned about Shields’ fastball velocity. He had a hamstring issue earlier in the year and was still tentative with his velo well into the season, but then it ticked up to 94 mph in the Carolina League playoffs. The fact that he thrived without that added velo speaks well to the strength of his above-average breaking balls and above-average control, as well as his command and feel to pitch. Keep in mind that he didn’t turn 19 until September. I saw Shields up to 95 shortly after the draft and expect him to get back to that range next year, as he’ll learn when to reach back for that velo. It should be an above-average fastball with good life as he matures physically and continues to learn how to manage his pitches.

While Shields is deep in the system, he is certainly an arm to follow.

Preston Farr looks at how the Royals minor-league system has changed for the better.

Six high-school prospects joined the system in the 2023 draft, followed by David Shields, Kyle DeGroat, and Corey Cousin in 2024. Then, in 2025 the Royals again went to the well adding five more high school prospects. The team’s first two selections were both from the prep ranks. This shift in draft philosophy is a welcome development. The Royals have stopped shying away from top-end prep talent after some big whiffs since the turn of the century seemed to scare them away. They’ve also started to add international talent at a growing rate. Not just are they adding more, they’re adding younger names every year.

This youth movement in the farm system is a welcome sight, simply because youth brings more ceiling. There’s more than ample risk, but when done in numbers like the Royals have, you’re bound to hit on at least a couple of high-ceiling prospects. That youth movement makes a list of potential breakout prospects even more fun, as the potential is much greater than from a list of 22 year olds still playing everyday in A-ball.

Kansas City writers (with Hall of Fame ballots) discuss their selections in the latest SportsBeat KC.

Many writers at The Athletic run down their ballots, with plenty of support for a former Royals outfielder.

How could the San Diego Padres and Royals help each other this offseason?

Need a reminder of how special Witt is in the field and at the plate?

FanGraphs ranks Pasquantino as their 11th-best fantasy first baseman ahead of the 2026 season.

The St. Louis Cardinals traded third baseman Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

MLB leaders are pointing fingers across the table when it comes to labor talks.

Do the San Francisco Giants have their priorities misaligned?

The New York Mets made their pitch, albeit a short-term one, to top free agent Kyle Tucker.

The Cleveland Guardians have a golden glove in left field, but how does Steven Kwan do it?

There is a concerning trend among barreled balls in baseball.

All eyes are on second base with some impact targets very available right now.