FanPost

All Royals' 18 April home runs in 1 GIF

John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Before the Royals were the toast of the postseason, the 2014 squad was best known as the worst power hitting team in the majors. Not only did they hit a meagre 11 home runs in April -- the lowest total in the league -- Royals fans had to wait until April 9th to see them hit their first. Not since the 1990 New York Yankees had a team failed to homer in their first 7 games.

Now it wasn't just Nori Aoki's fault the Royals power numbers were in the toilet to begin the year. Regulars Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer, and Lorenzo Cain also failed to hit one over the fence in April.

Player April HR
Escobar 1
Gordon 1
Infante 2
Moustakas 4
Perez 2
Valencia 1

Mercifully, things were been different this April. While the Royals aren't leading the league in home runs, they made positive strides by swatting 18 of them by the end of the month. To make matters better, the season started a week later this year, making this a total through 22 games, rather than the 26 games they played by the end of April 2014. Through those 22 games, they Royals hit only 9 home runs.

Their improvement stems from a more balanced power attack. Mike Moustakas leads the team in homers again this April with 3, but he's tied with Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales, and Sal Perez. Even Alex Rios -- who lasted just 28 plate appearances before having his hand broken by a J.R. Graham pitch -- has equaled Aoki's 2014 home run total.

Name April HR
Cain 2
Gordon 3
Hosmer 3
Morales 3
Moustakas 3
Perez 3
Rios 1

Whether the Royals wind up hitting for league average power is still up in the air, but tonight, let's celebrate not being dead last in homers by watching all 18 Royals blasts in a single GIF!

. . .

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

Matt Jackson is a featured writer for Beyond the Box Score. This is his first GIF and it took him about 7 hours to put it together. You should probably follow him on Twitter at @jacksontaigu.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.