The 2015 MLB regular season is winding down. After 159 regular season games, the majority of major league baseball players approach this weekend knowing they are almost done with the grind for the year. They are thinking of vacations, mai tais, taking their kids to school every day, dance recitals, family birthday parties, etc. You know, all that stuff we often forget they completely miss out on for 8 months of the year.

But for teams like our very own Kansas City Royals, the real season is just about to begin. The AL Central division winners have been rather obtusely coasting through September to what was an almost certain playoff berth. Regardless of whether they are able to clinch home field throughout said playoffs, only the most callous person could not look back at the 2015 regular season and call it a tremendous success.

This team was supposed to regress. We were picked by many pundits to finish third or fourth or even fifth in the division. But in what we’ve come to accept as typical Royals fashion, the boys in blue shut out the voices and found their way to the most successful regular season as a franchise since 1980.

So in completely arbitrary media fashion, we here at Royals Blue present the 2015 Royals Regular Season Awards.

For you acronym loving types, that comes out to RRSAs …

The Kevin Appier Most Valuable Starting Pitcher RRSA goes to …



Steady Eddy Volquez

Some of you may remember some jack hole predicting before the season that Volquez would end up going down as Dayton Moore’s worst free agent signing ever. That guy, whereas a consummate gentleman, scholar and ballroom dancer, could not be happier to be wrong.

Although Volquez didn’t post sparkling numbers as a whole (198.1 IP, 3.58 ERA, 1.311 WHIP, 152K vs 70 BB), the veteran took the ball every fifth day and was good for a 2.3 WAR, the third highest of his career.

For a starting rotation that underachieved as a whole, he was a rock steady performer.

The Dan Quisenberry Most Valuable Relief Pitcher RRSA goes to …



Wade Davis

Davis had one of the best seasons for a relief pitcher in history. Pitchers are not supposed to keep a line of .96 ERA / 430 ERA+ / .807 WHIP / 10.3 K / per 9 over an entire season.

A little perspective: Mariano Rivera, often rightfully considered the best relief pitcher in the history of the game, never finished a season with a sub 1 ERA, never even came close to that ridiculous 430 ERA+, and only finished with a lower WHIP or higher K per 9 once in his illustrious career (2008 and 1996 respectively).

The George Brett Most Valuable Hitter RRSA goes to …



Kendrys #PulledPork Morales

Excluding our power hitting secret weapon Chris Young, Morales leads the team in HR (22), doubles (41), walks (57), RBI (106), SLG (.487), OPS (.848) and OPS+ (129). He has performed above and beyond any expectations and should be a shoe-in for AL Comeback Player of the Year.

The Frank White Most Valuable Defender RRSA goes to …



Lorenzo Cain

#LoCain was so good in the field last year that it cost him a gold glove (in case you don’t remember, he was often shifted to right late in games to make up for the “interesting” fielding prowess of Aoki, therefore giving the Royals a three-headed defensive hydra in the outfield of Gordon-Dyson-Cain. It is widely thought the fact that he spent so much time in right was why he didn’t win the gold in center).

Pick almost any non-arm advanced defensive stat you like and you’ll likely find Cain in the top 3. Even though Kiermaier is having pretty damn good year as well, the internet has learned not to poke the Royals fan base. Cain will bring home gold this year.

The “insert any of the god awful middle infielders of the 2000s here” Least Valuable Batter RRSA goes to …



Omar Infante

I don’t hate Infante like a lot of people do. He was signed to an all-things-considered modest 4 yr/30.25 million dollar deal at a time we thought we were one or two pieces away from being legit contenders. Also remember this was pre-2014 Royals, which means we had to offer extra years or money to lure free agents.

But man, this year was historically rough for Omar. Of all 2B in MLB with 400 or more plate appearances, #VoteOmar ranks dead last or second to last in every offensive category.

His .234 OBP over 455 plate appearances is the stuff of legend. Not good legends like unicorns or Tom Cruise trying to stop the lord of darkness mind you, more like the one where the witch tries to put the kids in the oven.

The Albie Lopez Least Valuable Pitcher RRSA goes to …



Jeremy Guthrie.

Again, I don’t hold the level of pure hatred in my heart for #JGuts that some do. After all, his story will probably go down as one of the best trades for GMDM in his Royals tenure, regardless of how truly awful Guthrie has been a whole this year.

What does awful look like? Over 148.1 IP (which is fairly remarkable in its own right as you will see), JGuts has a 5.95 ERA, 69 ERA+, 1.551 WHIP and has given up 29 HR (most of which came in one inning in New York). The tightrope artist has fallen many more times this year than he has stayed up.

Team MVP



Eric Hosmer

There are obviously many more reasons and advanced statistics why a team wins or loses a ballgame than one player’s performance, but there is definite correlation for this team when it comes to Hosmer. Back in June I posted a piece about how the Royals perform when he is on versus when he slumps. Simply put, when he was on fire, so was the team. When he struggled, so did the team.

In the 155 games Hosmer has appeared in this season, the team has gone 92-63. He has appeared in every game the Royals have won and the team lost all four games he didn’t play.

Even further, in those 92 wins, Hosmer hit .341/.469/.536 with 13 HR, 79 RBI, 57 strikeouts and 43 walks. In the 63 losses, Hosmer hit .238/.324/.350 with 5 HR, 12 RBI, 50 strikeouts and 20 walks.

Couple that with gold glove defense at first and an increasingly bigger role as a team leader, Hos takes the crown as this team’s overall most valuable player.

With playoff baseball at the K less than one week away, the Royals are sitting pretty at the end of their best regular season in 35 years. How we remember the 2015 Royals as a whole will largely be determined by how they perform in the playoffs. A division series exit would surely be viewed as just one more in a long line of disappointments for KC sports fans, one that would sting for quite some time. Conversely, a world series title would be something cherished by this deserving fan base forever.

Regardless of how the season finally ends, let us not forget the tremendous spring and summer that was.

Facebook Comments

comments