The Royals Aren’t Making Elite Contact Anymore

That 18% increase from 2015-16 not only sticks out, it’s the worst in the majors:

To add insult to injury, it’s also the second-largest year-to-year increase in the past six years:

Who’s to blame? Jeff Sullivan wrote recently about Alex Gordon’s contact struggles, and indeed his K rate is way up. But he isn’t hurting the team the most. That honor belongs to the keystone collective:

In 2015, Omar Infante played the most at second base before Ben Zobrist joined the team. Infante didn’t provide much offense but at least he put the ball in play; his strikeout rate was only 15.2%. After the trade deadline, Ben Zobrist continued this trend with his 11.4% strikeout rate.

Infante got some playing time this year before he was cut. Since then, Whit Merrifield has provided 220 PA with a 22.7% strikeout rate and Raul Mondesi is contributing a terrible 32.3% strikeout rate. Christian Colon and his 18.9% K rate round out the pack.

In 2015, Salvador Perez held down the catcher’s spot for most of the season and whiffed at a 14.8% clip. He’s still on board in 2016 but has seemingly altered his approach, resulting in a 22.8% strikeout rate but also a reasonable increase in power.

Mike Moustakas and his 12.4% K rate starred at third base last year. This year he’s out with a torn ACL, so Cheslor Cuthbert‘s 20% strikeout rate plays every day. As for left field, in addition to Gordon, Brett Eibner’s 24.6% strikeout rate isn’t helping matters.

You could forgive the increase in strikeouts if it brought more power. But it hasn’t: the team’s ISO has dropped from .144 to .135. Taking the league-wide power surge into account, that’s a 13% drop, third-largest in baseball:

You could blame Dayton Moore for this situation if you wanted to. It’s his job to fill the system with talent. Having only Cuthbert to replace Moustakas, and having only Merrifield, Mondesi, and Colon at second base could be laid at his feet. Gordon’s and Perez’s contact issues aren’t his fault, though. Neither are those of Hosmer or Kendrys Morales. And good luck getting Moore on the hot seat after back-to-back World Series appearances and a championship.

You could also blame the team’s hitting coach, Dale Sveum. It’s not like only one hitter caught the strikeout bug. But Sveum’s been the hitting coach for over two seasons, and the Royals have succeeded under his watch by avoiding strikeouts. I can’t imagine he’d ask everyone to flip on the power switch.

We could still see Kansas City baseball this October. Thanks to a recent streak of excellent run prevention, they’re contending for an AL Wild Card spot. But their offense is decidedly hurting. And even if the team plays while the leaves change colors, don’t expect as many thrilling bat-on-ball plays as in years past. This year’s Royals seem to have lost that skill.