Four reasons why the Royals have been struggling

For the Kansas City Royals, defending their World Series championship hasn’t been the dream they probably hoped it would be. Thirty-three games into the 2016 season, they’ve struggled on all fronts. They’re 16-17, and already six games behind the surprising Chicago White Sox in the American League Central.

Even though things aren’t going according to plan, you can watch the Royals try to split their four-game series with the New York Yankees in Yahoo Sports’ Free Game of the Day. The game, which begins at 7:05 p.m. ET, can be streamed at Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home.

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Two of the Royals’ three games against the Yankees have seen improvement. They’ve scored seven runs two nights in a row, good for one win and one loss. Despite their recent offensive outburst, the Royals just haven’t been able to get everything clicking at the same time. So what’s been going on? Why have they been struggling so much? Let’s take a look at four reasons why.

Important hitters were slumping in April. Left fielder Alex Gordon hit just .208/.322/.325 through the end of the month. On April 25th, centerfielder Lorenzo Cain’s average dropped to .200. Shortstop Alcides Escobar finished April with a .214 average.

But the calendar page has turned for these three, and it shows. Gordon has been hitting .281 since the start of May, raising his average to a slightly more respectable .229. Escobar’s average is up to .257 after hitting .357 in 10 games this month. And in the 13 games since his average hit .200, Cain has hit .370 with three home runs (and those were hit in just one game). These guys trending upward can certainly give the Royals a boost. But…

Several guys are still hitting below expectations. Even with a few hitters getting hot, the Royals need more of their guys to do better in order to overcome their pitching issues. (More on that in a moment…) If Salvador Perez and Jarrod Dyson could both get a few more hits here or there, it would certainly help. But the biggest issue is designated hitter Kendrys Morales. In 33 games, he’s batting .195/.446/.333, a precipitous drop from his impressive 2015 line. Morales desperately needs to do better — even just a little better would give the Royals more chances to get runs home.

Their starting pitching has been a mess. With the exception of Ian Kennedy and Edinson Volquez, the Royals’ starters haven’t been doing well at all. After starting out well, Yordano Ventura has been trending in the wrong direction, with an 8.36 ERA over his last three starts and a drop in strikeouts. Chris Young’s seven 2016 starts have netted him a 6.68 ERA, and he hasn’t pitched into the seventh inning once. Kris Medlen isn’t doing any better. After making two decent starts in April, he’s had major issues. His ERA is 7.77, and he hasn’t made it to the third inning in his last two starts.

Injuries are complicating everything. The Royals’ lack of pitching depth is rapidly becoming apparent, and it’s a problem. Young and Medlen are both battling injuries, and the Royals don’t have a lot of options. Max Rieper of SB Nation’s Royals Review wrote on Wednesday that the team’s failure to develop starting pitching is starting to seriously hurt them. To compensate for a lack of homegrown pitching, they had to trade away talent to get it. While that’s okay in the short term, it’s now making it difficult for the Royals to find decent fill-ins to take over while their injured starters are recovering.

Even though they have some significant obstacles to overcome, there’s still plenty of time for the Royals to get the magic back. Maybe a split with the Yankees is exactly what they need to get into the groove.

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