{"id":608486,"date":"2026-03-05T21:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/608486\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:50:20","slug":"2026-kansas-city-royals-opening-day-roster-projection-v2-0-royals-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/608486\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Kansas City Royals Opening Day Roster Projection, v2.0 – Royals Keep"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Royals\u2019 4-0 victory over Team Cuba on Tuesday gave fans a taste of things to come while the club\u2019s World Baseball Classic participants \u2014 Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a>, Salvador Perez<\/a>, and Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a>, among others \u2014 are gone from spring camp. Until they return, KC\u2019s lineups will feature more players on the Opening Day roster bubble than usual.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis temporary shortage of star personnel will disappoint many Cactus League fans, but there\u2019s a silver lining to the cloud \u2014 manager Matt Quatraro<\/a> and his staff get longer looks at players they might be considering for the few available Opening Day roster spots.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat better time, then, to wonder what the 26-man roster could look like when the season opens in Atlanta? Royals Keep examined that question before spring training began<\/a>; now, let\u2019s take a fresh look.\n<\/p>\n

\tRoyals Pitchers<\/p>\n

\tStarting Rotation<\/p>\n

\n\tNo surprises here. Unless the dreaded injury bug hits or the Royals receive an irresistible 11th-hour trade offer for Bubic, the five-man rotation is set. Yes, Cameron stumbled in his second spring outing \u2014 he gave up three runs, six hits, and hit a batter in 2 2\/3 innings against the Angels \u2014 but don\u2019t expect that to continue.\n<\/p>\n

\tRelievers<\/p>\n

\n\tConsider these hurlers bullpen locks. Est\u00e9vez is the presumptive closer (his recent velocity drop bears watching<\/a>, though), Erceg and Strahm will set him up, Lynch is a valuable lefty who pitched well last season, and Schreiber\u2019s two years in Kansas City have been solid.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFree agent signee and former Detroit closer Lange\u2019s lack of any minor league options makes him a bullpen shoo-in. He\u2019s struck out four in 2 2\/3 innings this spring and could sneak into a set-up role if he returns to his 26-save form of 2023.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFalter, last year\u2019s trade deadline pickup, who opponents battered for 12 runs in 15 innings before an August bicep injury ended his season, is also out of options and will make the club because it must see what he offers post-injury.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFive-year big-league veteran Mears came to KC via the December trade with Milwaukee, which also made Isaac Collins<\/a> a Royal and sent Angel Zerpa<\/a> to the Brewers. Like Collins (more on him in a moment), Mears will be in Atlanta on Opening Day. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tRoyals Position Players<\/p>\n

\tCatchers<\/p>\n

\n\tLike its starting rotation, Kansas City\u2019s catching corps is set. The only question, and it\u2019s a good one, is how much of Perez\u2019s time behind the plate will become Jensen\u2019s. Perez will need more \u201crest\u201d time at first base and DH in his 15th big league season, and Jensen\u2019s bat is too good to keep on the bench with only occasional reps at DH.\n<\/p>\n

\tFirst Base<\/p>\n

\n\tWho else, and rightfully so? Although he\u2019s only 3-for-15 and hasn\u2019t homered yet this spring, Pasquantino\u2019s bat is big, and he\u2019s KC\u2019s best first baseman since Eric Hosmer<\/a> left after the 2017 season.\n<\/p>\n

\tSecond Base\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWill someone please convince everyone they deserve to start at second? No one did last season \u2014 India flopped at the plate and his glove left much to be desired, and injuries held Massey back, although he slashed .375\/.412\/.482 with a .896 OPS after returning for good in August.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, the nod goes to India. Somewhat surprisingly, considering offseason speculation that they wouldn\u2019t bring him back, the Royals handed India an\u00a0$8 million 2026 contract<\/a> that suggests the job is his to lose. And although he\u2019s struggling with one single in eight at-bats this spring, and the fact that Massey has spent more spring game time in the outfield (including Tuesday\u2019s game, which doesn\u2019t count in the stats) than he has at the keystone, hints, perhaps, that he may start the season in a Whit Merrifield-type utility role.\n<\/p>\n

\tShortstop<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat else is there to say?\n<\/p>\n

\tThird Base<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso enough said. That\u2019s what a Gold Glove, .286 average, .351 OBP, 121 wRC+, and a new five-year, $57.5 million contract will do.\n<\/p>\n

\tOutfielders<\/p>\n

\n\tNo matter what happens in spring games, at least four things are certain about the outfield. Isbel will start in center, Caglianone will get a shot at right field redemption after his horrendous 2025 debut (so far, so good \u2014 he\u2019s slashing .400\/.550\/.733 this spring), newcomer Isaac Collins is the left fielder, and Starling Marte is here to play. Isbel\u2019s defense is too good to pass up, and Caglianone\u2019s potential is too great to ignore. The club acquired Collins to boost its everyday outfield offense, not its bench depth, and newcomer Marte\u2019s .270\/.335\/.410 line and nine homers in 98 games with the 2025 Mets prove he has something left to offer.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMarte and Thomas won\u2019t play every day, but expect Quatraro to get them in the lineup often.\n<\/p>\n

\tUtility<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, not Nick Loftin<\/a>, although with a minor league option left, he’ll remain in the organization. Instead, it’s Tolbert who should land the final roster spot \u2014 as a rookie last season, he played second, short, third, and every outfield position, and in 64 games stole 21 bases (he was caught only twice) and hit .280. That Loftin hit only .208 with a 73 wRC+ in 67 games cinches the deal for Tolbert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royals\u2019 4-0 victory over Team Cuba on Tuesday gave fans a taste of things to come while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,33305,252],"class_list":{"0":"post-608486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-opening-day-roster","16":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116178781803059449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}