{"id":736242,"date":"2026-06-26T18:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/736242\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:09:17","slug":"royals-nick-loftin-quietly-enjoying-strong-june-at-the-plate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/736242\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals&#8217; Nick Loftin Quietly Enjoying Strong June at the Plate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">The Kansas City Royals have been at their best offensively in June, scoring 129 runs through the month with four games remaining. It marks the most runs Kansas City has scored in a single month this season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The Royals put up 117 runs in April before totaling just 95 during a difficult offensive month in May. This month, however, multiple bats have heated up and contributed to the team&#8217;s offensive production.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Young sluggers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/onsi\/royals-jac-caglianone-showing-no-signs-of-slowing-down-at-the-plate-brian3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jac Caglianone<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/onsi\/royals-rookie-carter-jensen-turning-heads-during-impressive-hitting-streak-brian3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Carter Jensen<\/a> have been swinging the bat well in June. But another Royals hitter has also put together a strong month at the plate.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Loftin has quietly provided a spark for the Royals&#8217; offense<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kw2c567gb9s7pg88n9.jpg\" alt=\" Kansas City Royals third baseman Nick Loftin\" title=\" Kansas City Royals third baseman Nick Loftin\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7f\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jun 23, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Nick Loftin (12) celebrates a home run during the first inning against Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | Pablo Robles-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">While most of the attention has been on Jac Caglianone&#8217;s outstanding offensive month, utility man Nick Loftin has continued to produce at the plate.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">So far this month, Loftin is slashing .288\/.368\/.530 with three home runs in 66 at-bats. He has also drawn eight walks and collected five doubles.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">The right-handed hitter entered June without a home run this season. For a player not known for his power, hitting three home runs this month is an encouraging sign that he is seeing the ball well.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">Loftin came into the season coming off a productive spring training as he competed for one of the final spots on the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">When second baseman Michael Massey was placed on the injured list to begin the season, Loftin earned a spot on the roster. Then, when Jonathan India underwent season-ending surgery, Loftin&#8217;s opportunities continued to grow.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"82\">Even outside of June, the 27-year-old has enjoyed one of the better offensive stretches of his career this year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"85\">Loftin has consistently put together quality at-bats this season. He owns a 12.7% strikeout rate, along with a 14.4% whiff rate, a 22.2% chase rate and a 33% squared-up rate, <a href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/nick-loftin-679845?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to Statcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"88\">Loftin can play nearly anywhere on the diamond, making him one of the Royals&#8217; most versatile players. His defensive flexibility gives Kansas City even more opportunities to keep him on the field.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8b\">While the season has not gone as planned for Kansas City, June has brought optimism for the future. With several young players stepping up and the offense producing at a much higher level, it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the Royals.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Royals have been at their best offensively in June, scoring 129 runs through the month&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549],"class_list":["post-736242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-rays","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-rays","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabayrays"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116817754013125110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736242","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=736242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}