Ready, Freddy?

 

The Kansas City Royals, having been relatively scaled back following the trade deadline, are in Philadelphia this weekend, to play one of the best teams in the NL. On one hand, this is the type of gimme series that the Phillies can easily blow and get embarrassed by. On the other hand, other than Bobby Witt, what exactly are the Royals working with right now? Not a hell of a lot.

Their season can be defined by two rookie position players, namely Maikel Garcia and Freddy Fermin. Fermin was called up last year during the Blue Jays series that half the team couldn't take part in, and everyone made the same 'dollar store Freddie Freeman' joke about him, but it's really just the name that's similar for these two players. Fermin is a solid defensive catcher that can also hit .300, and so far has 23 RBIs and 6 homers in 45 games. 

Fermin has been getting a lot of starts behind the plate, which does mean that Salvador Perez is coming to terms with his age a bit. We went through something similar to this last year between Perez and M.J. Melendez, but seeing as Melendez was such a poor defender back there, it was easier for Perez to win. Now, Fermin's younger, more versatile and, honestly, the better choice behind the plate. I think everybody's alright with Perez DHing in this situation, especially if his power umbers are still good. But seeing Fermin click into place, along with Garcia at third, does point to a confident approach going forward.

But you remember that the Royals also had a confident approach heading out of 2022, and had Michael Massey, Nick Pratto, Nate Eaton and Drew Waters primed for big roles going forward. None of that has happened. None of those big pieces from 2022 have capitalized on that promise. Only really Witt has built off of last year at all, and he's finally performing to expectation. But as much as I wanna say that this team could put it together going forward, this season was a major setback for them, immediately following a year that looked similarly foundational. I wanna trust that these guys will be around going forward, but I can't be sure of that anymore. Look at Brady Singer, I thought he'd be having a career year this year, he's struggled immensely. 

And so this Phillies series could be an attempt to upset a contender, but I don't know of many of these guys who can really be relied upon to keep a team like this down. Unless Witt carries the team on his back or something, it may be another uphill battle for the Royals.

Coming Tomorrow- I was gonna say I feel bad for this guy, but seeing that he already has a World Series ring and countless accolades, I really don't.