Most other teams would be discouraged by the fact that their 9 hitter was doing the most damage two weeks in. I think the Royals are just relieved that Kyle Isbel remembered how to hit in the first place.
Cause the idea that I got was that Isbel was a defense-first outfielder who stayed in the lineup in spite of his lack of hitting success. Always a low-ish WAR, not a ton of true offensive production, maybe an RBI here and there, but mostly just nice catches. Right now Isbel is hitting .478 with 5 RBIs and 2 homers, plus 11 hits overall in 7 games. He got to 11 hits in 13 less plate appearances than Maikel Garcia. Logic dictates this is a early surge that could disappear in time for Bobby Witt, Jac Caglianone and Vinnie Pasquantino getting hot, but...it shows you that even the 9 guy can go nuts for this team.
This is why you can never really count out the Royals under this current administration [I mean Quatraro, I'm not making a broader statement about anything else]. They've got crazy depth and a wide range of options. Kyle Isbel can swing in and go crazy on contact. Maikel Garcia can be the hero, as he has been frequently lately. Salvy Perez can still swing a bat, AND he can hold his own against the umps. The plan seems to be to platoon Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins til either one shows long term readiness, which I think works considering they've both shown a partial spark at least. They also have Starling Marte hanging about, and he can occasionally pitch in, when not being roped into a lineup when the usual DH option is oversleeping.
The place where I see the depth running out might actually be the bullpen. Carlos Estevez is out, and Lucas Erceg is taking the closing assignments. It could be going a lot better. Only Nick Mears is showing any degree of dominance of this unit. Everybody else has been very human, and very ineffective. Even Matt Strahm, who I bet is missing Philly about now, is trying to get his ERA back below 4. The starting guys have been okay for the most part, despite the high home run totals [Michael Wacha just gave up one for Steven Kwan]. And I do think, if Bubic and Ragans and Lugo can stay healthy this year, they're playoff-caliber. But I just don't know if the pitching has the same level of depth as the hitting. They brought up Luinder Avila the other day to face the Brewers, and he got kinda chewed up by 'em. Ryan Bergert is waiting if need be, but there's not a lot of surefire guys lined up next, at least not yet.
Still, the Royals look decent, and if Witt really takes off this year they could go on a tear. I can already see some real strengths. We'll just see how far they can take these guys.
Coming Tomorrow- After years of trade rumors, the Cubs finally gave this guy the extension he deserves. Now the real work begins.
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