Royals Review, a Kansas City Royals community

But I’m now going to give you a mystery that has no answer that I can come up with.

The mystery is this:

How is it even remotely possible that the Kansas City Royals cleanup hitters — THEIR CLEANUP HITTERS — are hitting .211/.278/.301 this year? How? Seriously. How?

You probably saw this in the Baseball Reference Blog — and it boggles the mind. They list off what the cleanup hitters have done for all 30 teams. The Royals cleanup hitters are hitting 18 points worse than any other team, they are on-basing 19 points lower than any team, and they are slugging NINETY-EIGHT points lower than any team.

The Royals cleanup hitters are hitting worse than a replacement level catcher.

I’m going to repeat that but with italics:

The Royals cleanup hitters are hitting worse than a replacement level catcher.

ESPY_TEAHEN I know what's coming.....

JPosnanski Something big coming?

A look at the most-used lineup in 2007 showed that, actually, a LOT had to be done.

1. David DeJesus, cf
2. Mark Grudzielanek, 2b
3. Mark Teahen, rf
4. Billy Butler, dh (Mike Sweeney when healthy)
5. Ross Gload, 1b
6. Alex Gordon, 3b
7. Emil Brown, lf
8. John Buck, c
9. Tony Pena, ss