It\u2019s Friday, usually the day after my day to do the game recap. They didn\u2019t win because they did\u2019t play, but I have yet to write a winning game recap this season. Well, I won\u2019t be writing a losing one next week \u2013 they\u2019re off again on Thursday.<\/p>\n
As such, I\u2019m feeling a little grouchy. Okay, more than a little. It\u2019s cloudy outside, it\u2019s in the 60s the day before most pools open, the Timberwolves are out of the playoffs and miles behind the Spurs and Thunder, I\u2019m currently in a reading funk, there\u2019s no new episode of Widow\u2019s Bay (my new fave show, which you should totes watch) until next week, and oh the Royals are awful.<\/p>\n
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Yes, awful. They\u2019re losing a ton of games, and they\u2019re not even fun to watch. Bad pitching, bad hitting, bad baserunning (okay, atrocious baserunning), and bad defense. To boot, they have a bad manager and a bad front office.<\/p>\n
Outside of Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a>, there\u2019s not really a reason to watch this team. It\u2019s a collective group of disappointments.<\/p>\n But what player has been the biggest disappointment?<\/p>\n I have five candidates\u2014three everyday players and two starting pitchers\u2014for the offending dishonor, and at the end, Dear Reader, you\u2019ll get to decide via vote. I\u2019m taking these guys in alphabetical order. Bear witness.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Jac Caglianone<\/a><\/p>\n Jac is the only one of the five candidates with a positive bWAR, which is currently at 0.8. The 23-year-old right fielder looks better than he did last year, but that\u2019s a low bar. He\u2019s still striking out entirely too much (30%!) while his on-base percentage is sub-optimal. Luck seems to be on his side, too, as he\u2019s hitting .344 (as compared to .172 last year) on balls in play.<\/p>\n Despite a couple of bloop singles last night, he looks horrible against lefties. For the year, he\u2019s slashing .205\/.225\/.333 against southpaws with only three extra-base hits. His last at-bat against the Red Sox ended with the expected, an ugly whiff against the lefty Jovani Moran<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As noted, he does have a positive WAR, and he has improved over his trainwreck of a rookie season. But he\u2019s still not tearing it up, he\u2019s not the power threat the Royals need him to be, and seems to take personally every out he makes. Add in that the guy taken right after him in the 2024 draft<\/a> is rocking it across the state, and yeah, Jac\u2019s leaving a bit to be desired.<\/p>\n Noah Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n The Royals would not have finished 2025 with a winning record were it not for Noah Cameron. With the pitching staff injured, maligned, or otherwise ineffective, Cameron sparkled during his rookie season, finishing 4th in the American League Rookie of the Year voting as he went 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA across 24 starts and 138.1 innings pitched.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a quick, precipitous fall in 2026 for the local kid.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Cameron\u2019s started all eight of his appearances this season, but his ERA\u2019s jumped to 5.40. To his credit, Cameron has actually lowered his FIP and increased his strikeout rate but he\u2019s also walking more batters and surrendering 10.6 hits per nine innings, an increase of over three hits per nine from last year.<\/p>\n His biggest culprit are the balls hit in play against him. Last year batters slashed .214\/.279\/.361 against him with over 41% of batted balls being hit on the ground. This season, those numbers are much worse for Cameron. Now, batters are lighting him up to the tune of .287\/.337\/.468. Groundballs have decreased by nearly 11% while hard-hit balls have increased over 6%\u2014from 37.4% to 43.8%. Line drives are up 9%.<\/p>\n It\u2019s great that Cameron remains durable while the pitching staff takes some hits, but with a fully healthy staff, he\u2019s probably relegated to the bullpen.<\/p>\n Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a><\/p>\n Strangeness is that Vinnie is struggling so badly while madness is that whoever fills out the lineup card\u2014and I have my doubts that it\u2019s Quatraro 100% of the time\u2014keeps putting him in the middle of the order.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Vinnie\u2019s struggles feel more than him being a slow starter. Not only does he look frustrated out on the diamond\u2014which is understandable\u2014he looks lost. Is he pressing? I mean, I get it if he is. He\u2019s supposed to be one of the team leaders, and it\u2019s hard to lead with an OPS 28% below league average. Is he hurt? What\u2019s up with him?<\/p>\n Whatever the reason, Pasquantino, 28 and arbitration-eligible for the next two years, is having the worst year of his career when the Royals obviously need to him to have\u2026not the worst year of his career. Of the three batters on this list, I\u2019m most confident of Vinnie to snap out of it, but time\u2019s running out for that to make much of a difference.<\/p>\n Salvador Perez<\/a><\/p>\n Did Salvy\u2019s tweet, or X post, about not needing a mental breather<\/a> sour him to anyone else? I lost not a small amount of respect for him when he used social media to express his disagreement with getting an off day. That type of exchange needs to occur behind closed doors, not in the open.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Aside from that, I went into Perez at length<\/a> when I posited some ways for the Royals to handle their aging slugger. He\u2019s had two multi-hit games since then with a pair of homers and three walks. And yet, his OPS+ is 77 (23% league average) and he still looks like he\u2019s stuck in cement.<\/p>\n Barring injury, he\u2019ll undoubtedly pass George Brett\u2019s franchise record for career home runs this season. That may be his, and the team\u2019s, only highlight of 2026.<\/p>\n Cole Ragans<\/a><\/p>\n I wanted to avoid players on the IL as much as possible, which is why I didn\u2019t list Jonathan India<\/a>, who\u2019s out for the year, or Carlos Estevez<\/a>, who barely pitched.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Ragans is different, though. He\u2019s already pitched a fair amount this season and should have the chance to pitch plenty more.<\/p>\n In 2024, his first full season with the Royals, Ragans looked like a budding ace, a pitcher who has the stuff that could someday win him the Cy Young. Injuries derailed his 2025, but it\u2019s been ineffectiveness that\u2019s curtailed his 2026.<\/p>\n The culprits: walks, fly balls, and home runs. Working in reverse, Ragans is allowing home runs at the worst rate of his career, giving them up 6.6% of the time, which is almost double his previous worst mark. Batters are slugging .488 against him, also the worst of his career, and by far the worst during his time in Kansas City<\/a>. It\u2019s up over 100 points from last year!<\/p>\n Related, his fly ball percentage has jumped from 27% last year to 37.3% this year. Perhaps most concerning, though, is his walk rate: Ragans is walking 15.2% of the batters he faces as compared to 7.8% last year and 8.8% in 2024.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Hopefully he\u2019s corrected himself during his time on the IL.<\/p>\n Alright, Readers, time for you to vote: what Royals player has been the biggest disappointment so far in 2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Friday, usually the day after my day to do the game recap. 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