Despite a winning record, analyst grades Royals opening month poorly

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - An up-and-down April for the Kansas City Royals ended with the club one game over .500. Still, one analyst graded the Royals poorly for their play in the first full month of the 2025 season.

In an end-of-April report card for ESPN, David Schoenfield gave Kansas City a C for the opening month of the season.

“Outside of Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia, they haven’t really hit at all, with a whole host of batters -- Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey, MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe -- all struggling,” Schoenfield wrote. “That’s supposed to be the middle of the KC lineup and all four of those guys are hitting under .200.”

Melendez’s struggles saw the 26-year-old outfielder get optioned to Triple-A midway through the month. While in Omaha, outfielder Drew Waters has stepped up given a more prominent role and Garcia is hitting nearly .300 to help the Royals offense.

Schoenfield admitted, “The bullpen has pitched much better than last season and the rotation has once again been a strength,” but still graded Kansas City worse than the Cleveland Guardians, who he gave a B-. That’s despite Kansas City having a better run differential than Cleveland and trailing the Guardians by 1.5 games in the standings.

The negative viewpoint of an April that saw Kansas City finish with a 16-15 record -- before winning on May 1 to improve to 17-15 -- can somewhat be viewed as a shift in expectations for the club that reached the playoffs and won a series in 2024.

Schoenfield gave the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers an A for their play in April.

Given their offensive struggles early in the year, Kansas City’s second-best batting average over the last 10 games is an encouraging sign as to how the club could play in May.

The Royals, winners of nine of their past 10 games, begin a 3-game series in Baltimore on Friday night.

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