Breaking down the Minnesota Twins’ AL Central Rivals: Kansas City Royals

Minnesota Twins Lineup vs. Kansas City Royals Lineup

The Royals developed an excellent farm system in the late 2000s, and proceeded to use that farm system to give them great players and win them a World Series just five years ago. Only three batters from that team remain, as the Royals lineup isn’t what it once was. Let’s get going.

Twins:

• C-Mitch Garver: .273 BA, 31 HR, 67 RBI, Silver Slugger
• 1B-Miguel Sano: .247 BA, 34 HR, 79 RBI
• 2B-Luis Arraez: .334 BA, 4 HR, 28 RBI
• SS-Jorge Polanco: .295 BA, 22 HR, 79 RBI, All-Star
• 3B-Josh Donaldson: .259 BA, 37 HR, 94 RBI
• LF-Eddie Rosario: .276 BA, 32 HR, 109 RBI
• CF-Byron Buxton: .262 BA, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 14 SB
• RF-Max Kepler: .252 BA, 36 HR, 90 RBI
• DH-Nelson Cruz: .311 BA, 41 HR, 108 RBI

Royals:

• C-Salvador Perez: .235 BA, 27 HR, 80 RBI, All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger (2018 STATS)
• 1B-Ryan O’Hearn: .195 BA, 14 HR, 38 RBI
• 2B-Nicky Lopez: .240 BA, 2 HR, 30 RBI
• SS-Aldaberto Mondesi: .263 BA, 9 HR, 62 RBI, 43 SB
• 3B-Maikel Franco: .234 BA, 17 HR, 56 RBI
• LF-Alex Gordon: .266 BA, 13 HR, 76 RBI, 5 SB
• CF-Whit Merrifield: .302 BA, 16 HR, 74 RBI, 20 SB, All-Star
• RF-Hunter Dozier: .279 BA, 26 HR, 84 RBI
• DH: Jorge Soler: .265 BA, 48 HR, 117 RBI

The Twins lineup is a true juggernaut, a unit that is capable of leading the league in homers and runs scored when fully healthy. They are one of the five best units in the league and deserve that recognition. But they should watch the rise of the Royals.

Royals best addition didn’t come from another team. Salvador Perez’s return gives the Royals their best player back, one of the top catchers in baseball who will improve the pitching and hitting with his excellent work behind and at the dish.

The Royals have five players (Perez, O’Hearn, Franco, Dozier, and Merrifield) who could hit 20 homers and one (Soler) who could hit fifty and is good for over 100 RBI guaranteed. They still have large holes at first, second, and third, but this is an underrated lineup.

Regardless of how good the Royals lineup is, it doesn’t stack up to the Twins The Twins have the advantage at multiple positions and don’t have a spot in the lineup (assuming Buxton is healthy) that is a serious whole, and even then Marwin Gonzalez is one of the best utility players in the league. Advantage: Twins.

Minnesota Twins Bench vs. Kansas City Royals Bench

The Twins have one of the best groups in the league as far as backups go, but the Royals group isn’t terrible. With decent players at the key positions, the Royals group could be worse off. Let’s get to it.

Twins:

• C-Alex Avila: .207 BA, 9 HR, 24 RBI
• IF-Ehire Adrianza: .272 BA, 5 HR, 22 RBI
• IF/OF-Marwin Gonzalez: .264 BA, 15 HR, 55 RBI
• IF/OF-Willians Astudillo: .268 BA, 4 HR, 21 RBI
• OF-Jake Cave: .258 BA, 8 HR, 25 RBI

Royals:

• C-Cam Gallagher: .238 BA, 3 HR, 12 RBI
• C-Meibrys Viloria: .211 BA, 1 HR, 15 RBI
• 1B/OF-Ryan McBroom: .293 BA, 0 HR, 6 RBI
• IF-Kelvin Gutiérrez: .260 BA, 1 HR, 11 RBI
• OF-Bubba Starling: .215 BA, 4 HR, 12 RBI
• OF-Brett Phillips: .138 BA, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 SB

Because both teams didn’t get to finish Spring Training, neither bench is perfectly set. However, the Twins have a top ten bench unit, while the Royals do not. Each of the Twins’ players would be the best player on the Royal’s bench.

That being said, Gallagher, Viloria, McBroom, and Gutiérrez are all capable of being solid depth guys that can help win games. Phillips isn’t a bad outfielder and Starling is a former top five pick (though he’s now 27 and almost out of time to prove himself). Regardless, the Twins win this easily. Advantage: Twins.

Record Prediction:

The Twins are due for some regression after one of the best seasons in team history with nearly every player having a career season. However, they still should take control of a weak division and surge through to the playoffs.

On the opposite side, the Royals should be better with Brad Keller taking another step forward, Salvador Perez returning, and a little positive regression. They won’t compete the division, but they won’t lose 100 games again. We gave them a ten game win bump from last season.

Minnesota Twins: 95-67

Kansas City Royals: 69-93

A special thank you to the Jordan Foote, one of the co-experts of Kings of Kauffman, the Kansas City Royals FanSided site for providing the Kansas City Royals roster projection!