Five Kansas City Royals Spring Training Storylines to Watch

The Kansas City Royals have a very strong roster, and they’ll look to return to the postseason for the first time since 2024 after missing the postseason last year. Their roster boasts players at all stages of their careers, from young minor leaguers trying to make the MLB team out of camp to veterans fighting to keep their spots.

As spring training comes to a close over the next week or so, teams are finalizing and establishing their big-league rosters if they haven’t already done so. The Royals are going to be an interesting team to watch, as they had somewhat of a confusing 2025 after making the playoffs a year prior.

The Royals finished 82-80 last year, just barely finishing above the .500 mark but missing out on the final American League wild-card spot by five games. They’ve acquired plenty of new talent this offseason through signings and trades, so they have plenty of new weapons to unleash on the AL Central in 2026.

Here are five of the most important storylines to keep your eyes on as the Royals work toward the start of the regular season.

Caglianone Can Live Up to the Hype

Young outfielder Jac Caglianone made his MLB debut in 2025 and slashed just .157/.237/.295 with seven home runs and 18 RBI in 62 games and 232 plate appearances. He simply didn’t live up to expectations as Just Baseball’s top Royals prospect heading into last season, but this spring he’s shown the capability of living up to the hype of a sixth-overall pick from 2024.

In six spring training games thus far, Caglianone has one home run, two doubles, 4 RBI, and a much-improved slashline of .400/.550/.733 in 20 plate appearances. Although not a massive sample size, this is the first sign of success at the plate that Caglianone has shown since being called up from the minor leagues.

With Kansas City’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2025, he slashed a strong .337/.408/.617 and mashed 34 extra-base hits (20 home runs) and he hasn’t reached that level yet since the promotion.

As a former pitcher, Caglianone has one of the strongest outfield arms in baseball with an average arm strength of 95.3 MPH (98th percentile) and had seven outfield assists in 2025. He’s been incredible in this year’s World Baseball Classic, however, for the breakout stars from Team Italy where he has slashed .364/.563/.727 in four games.

With Caglianone holding a starting spot in Kansas City’s outfield this season alongside the newly-acquired Isaac Collins and Kyle Isbel, he’ll have plenty of time to prove his potential. If he’s at the top of his game in 2026, they’ll be the team to beat in the AL Central.

Carter Jensen is the Real Deal

Kansas City has had Salvador Perez on the Royals’ roster since 2011 and he’s the captain of their roster, but they have another incredible catching prospect on their hands in Carter Jensen. Jensen burst onto the scene in 2025, hitting .300/.391/.550 with three home runs, 13 RBI, and six doubles including a 456-foot blast he hit on the road in Sacramento.

Jensen doesn’t just have power, though, as his Baseball Savant page is virtually covered in red bars, signaling elite league-wide rankings.

He ranks among the league’s top hitters, albeit with just a 69 plate appearance sample size, in average exit velocity (95.4 MPH), barrel rate (20.8%), hard-hit rate (58.3%), walk rate (13.0%), and expected batting average (.336), just to name a few. Through 10 games in spring training this season, he’s continued to slug.

This spring, Jensen has slashed .267/.313/.567 with three home runs and seven RBI already. He will serve as either the Royals’ starting catcher or designated hitter on Opening Day and throughout the 2026 season, depending on what spot veteran Salvador Perez fills this year.

Jensen is Just Baseball’s No. 13 prospect heading into 2026 and he’s already shown a capability to handle big-league pitching. Be on the lookout for him in American League Rookie of the Year voting this year because we’re about to see a monster season from the 22-year-old.

New Names in the Outfield

The Royals have a few new outfielders joining their staff in 2026, namely Isaac Collins, Lane Thomas, and Starling Marte.

These players vary in archetypes, and Collins was acquired in a trade with the Brewers this offseason while Marte signed a one-year, $1 million contract and Thomas signed a one-year, $5.25 million deal.

Starting with Collins, he’s a five-tool player who the Royals acquired for relievers Angel Zerpa. Collins slashed .263/.368/.411 last year with nine home runs, 54 RBI, 19 stolen bases, and the second-highest fWAR among National League rookies (2.6) behind 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin.

Collins has had a tough spring thus far, going 2-for-18 at the plate while Marte is 2-for-9 in his three games of work. Kansas City’s outfield is going to be a big factor in whether they have a good or bad season, as they have to patrol one of the league’s largest outfields in Kauffman Stadium.

Thomas is coming off a tough season (-0.5 fWAR) last year with the Cleveland Guardians, but he’s gone 10-32 so far in spring training with a home run, 11 RBI, a double, and two triples in 11 spring games. He’s looking to bounce back in a big way for the Royals this season and he seems to be on the right track so far.

The Royals ranked dead last in all of MLB in fWAR from their outfielders in 2025, being the only team to finish with a negative fWAR; they received -1.1 fWAR from their outfield. With names like Collins, Thomas, and Marte alongside returning faces like Caglianone, they will hopefully rebound in 2026.

The Pasquatch Has Arrived

Vinnie Pasquantino is establishing himself as one of the best first basemen in baseball. In 160 games last season, Pasquantino slashed .264/.323/.475 with 32 home runs, 113 RBI, 33 doubles, and a 116 wRC+. He is the first Royal since Salvador Perez in 2021 to notch at least 110 RBI in a single season and he is the eighth player in franchise history to do so.

Pasquantino went just 3-15 in spring training but has seriously made himself known on a global stage in the World Baseball Classic. Representing Team Italy as their team captain, he’s slashed .211/.400/.684 with three home runs and four RBI in five games as they’ve earned a spot in the tournament’s semi-final round against Team Venezuela.

He succeeded at hitting every type of pitch in 2025, with a positive offensive run value on every pitch except for splitters (-3 RV). Last year, Pasquantino wasn’t at his absolute best in every category, as his strikeout rate jumped a few notches to 15.7%, which is still incredible. If he can get this strikeout rate back down to around 12% where it had been before 2025, he’ll be an even more intimidating hitter.

He’s been a jack of all trades in the WBC, from his discipline of taking six walks with just four strikeouts to his team-leading two stolen bases. Pasquantino is one of the best personalities in baseball and he pairs it well with his excellent abilities on the field, so the Royals have a great first baseman on their hands.

Rotation Troubles in KC?

Kansas City finished with the sixth-best starting pitcher fWAR in baseball (13.8), but in spring training their starters have had a tough time. The Royals’ rotation primarily featured Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic, Michael Lorenzen, and Noah Cameron in 2025, and all but Lorenzen are still with them this year.

The five arms still on the Royals’ roster and projecting to be in their rotation have pitched a combined 39.0 innings with 44 strikeouts, 13 walks, 52 hits allowed, 23 earned runs allowed, and seven home runs allowed this spring. These numbers result in the following averages: 5.31 ERA, 10.15 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 12.00 H/9, 1.62 HR/9.

While the strikeout rate is strong and the walk rate is decent, the rest of these rate stats give plenty of reason for Royals fans to be worried about their rotation’s efficacy in 2026.

Ragans, Bubic, and Lugo form a very strong trio of starting arms with Wacha and Cameron filling in the rest of the rotation, but one can’t help but be a little skeptical given their performance in the spring. While it’s always important to take spring results with a grain of salt, the Royals’ rotation needs to perform well in 2026 if the team wishes to make it back to October baseball.

The WBC has given similar room for worries, as Lugo only threw 4.1 innings in four outings (8.31 ERA) for Team Puerto Rico, Wacha surrendered three runs in as many innings (9.00 ERA) for Team United States, and the now-Colorado Rockie Lorenzen tossed 4.2 scoreless innings against the US for Team Italy.

Kansas City’s pitching has been the bedrock of their success in recent years, and it will be more of the same heading into the new season.

The post Five Kansas City Royals Spring Training Storylines to Watch appeared first on Just Baseball.