Atlanta Braves' Blueprint for Future: Look No Further Than Mets/Royals

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Oct 17, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman

Eric Hosmer

(35) celebrates with teammate after beating the Toronto Blue Jays in game two of the ALCS at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Story

It has been a long road back for the Royals since winning the 1985 World Series with George Brett and company. Starting in 1990, this club has finished 3rd or worse in their division 23 of 24 years in a streak lasting until 2014. That lone year they finished in 2nd place? 1995… and they were 70-74 that strike-shortened year. The nadir was 2004-06 when they lost 310 games.

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But they’ve been slowly and continually improving since 2009:

2009: 65 wins (4th place)
2010: 67 (5th)
2011: 71 (4th)
2012: 72 (3rd)
2013: 86 (3rd)
2014: 89 (2nd)
2015: 95 wins (1st place, and 1st in the entire AL)

There were some interesting players going through KC in those intervening years. Players like Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran; pitchers including Zack Greinke, Gil Meche, David Cone, and Kevin Appier. But none of that really gelled until their current crop of kids matured into a team built around offense and defense.

It Starts With Defense…

The Royals are generally acknowledged to have the best team outfield defense in the game. Overall, their defense ranks 8th – though it’s also first in the AL.

If you like the stat ‘Defensive Runs Saved’ (DRS) – and I do – then you’ll love KC: 56 DRS ranks second in baseball to the DBacks (71). Both clubs are well out in front of the Marlins (37) and Astros (30). By means of comparison, the Braves suffered here this year: -15.

How much does 56 DRS matter? Maybe the difference in winning and losing:

56 DS averages 1 run saved every 3 games
KC was 23-17 in 1-run games, 10-6 in extra innings

If you think I’m cherry-picking the stats, then try these:

Royals: #1 in team UZR (50.9). Nobody else was close (Giants, 37.2).
Royals: #1 in RZR (Revised Zone Rating – making plays where expected and turning them into outs)
Royals: #2 in runs saved by catchers via stolen base reductions
Royals: #3 in runs saved via ‘Good Fielding Plays’

…and Continues with Offense

Two years’ removed, these Royals continue to play with a Kevin Seitzer philosophy: lowest strikeout rate of all teams in the majors by a wide margin… and the lowest walk rate. They are putting the ball into play more than any other club, and are generally making that count for them as well.

Their .301 BABIP is merely average (11th, as is their OBP). As you might expect, double plays can be an issue, and they were in a 4-way tie for 6th in baseball (134; the Braves was 2nd with 148).

However, KC was 2nd in overall hits, 4th in singles, and 3rd in doubles. They also had noteworthy speed, being 6th in triples, though – as you might also suspect – home runs are not their thing: 24th.

But overall, that was good enough for 7th in baseball in run scoring. Combine that with their defense and solid pitching (10th in ERA, but 3rd in the AL) and that is a recipe for success.

Growing Pains

As noted, it wasn’t always good for the Royals. They had to wait for multiple players to blossom. Mike Moustakas was a particular project. Lorenzo Cain likewise took a couple of years to come around. Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer have been up and down. Others, such as Omar Infante, haven’t panned out as they’d preferred.

But they had a core of contributors that grew up in the organization: Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez; these players have been solid for multiple years, and this season they’ve put it all together.

How long did this take?

Royals optimism started at roughly the time that Moustakas hit the majors. That was 2011. Were they over-achievers in 2014? Perhaps, but they were clearly very close.

Here in 2015, the team decided to ‘go for it’ with a big deadline effort in adding Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. And whether they can finish off the Blue Jays or not, this season represents the ‘peak’ for the Royals during this cycle.

Next: Meet the Mets

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Atlanta Braves’ Blueprint for Future: Look No Further Than Mets/Royals

By Alan Carpenter | Oct 23, 2015