In fairness to the front office, the Royals have suffered some devastating injuries and don't have the necessary depth to cope with such hardships. Closer Joakim Soria was lost for the season; catcher Salvy Perez is out indefinitely following knee surgery; and center fielder Lorenzo Cain has been out with various ailments since early in the season. In addition, infielder Yuniesky Betancourt and star reliever Greg Holland have been on the DL. That's a lot of key players who have been missing.

KC's starting pitching has been dismal, but the everyday players haven't been much better. The Royals' regular infield consists of Eric Hosmer at first, Chris Getz at second, Alcides Escobar at shortstop, Mike Moustakas at third, and Humberto Quintero as the catcher.

Through May 12, Hosmer was hitting an alarming .179. KC's highly regarded second-year player has been struggling big-time at the plate. Hosmer has been swinging at pitches that are way out of the strike zone, most of those low and outside. His fielding has been exceptional and his hitting will return, but Hosmer is struggling.

Getz plays an adequate second base on defense, but his range is just average. His batting average was a satisfactory .292; however, that's deceiving. Getz has no power and his hits are grounders through the infield or soft liners in front of the defensive outfielders. Getz would be a useful utility player, but he lacks the offensive ability to be a regular.

Shortstop Escobar has been his usual sensational self on defense and his May 12 batting average of .277 was excellent. Escobar, however, swings at a lot of bad pitches and has been ineffective with runners in scoring position.

Moustakas at third has been a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day; he's been outstanding on defense and hitting well at .308. Of all the Royals, Moustakas' play has been the most encouraging.

Humberto Quintero is a stopgap catcher; he was signed because of the injury to Perez. Manager Ned Yost has favored Quintero over KC's other catcher, Brayan Pena. Neither is much on defense, but Pena is a switch hitter and much more productive at the plate than Quintero. As of May 12, Quintero was hitting .241 and he's been an almost sure out with runners in scoring position.

In the outfield, Alex Gordon in left and Jeff Francoeur in right have been regulars all season. Jarrod Dyson has been playing center field for the last two weeks. Gordon has been improving at the plate with a .264 average after a substandard start. His fielding has been close to flawless.

Francoeur is another story. His batting average through May 12 was a disappointing .233. Francoeur has been swinging at a lot of pitches that are well out of the strike zone and also swings too hard at pitches that are in the strike zone. His defense, like Gordon's, is outstanding.

Dyson has great speed and was hitting a promising .298. Dyson has played decent defense in center field and his hitting has been overshadowed by the overall poor offense by the Royals. He is playing in place of the injured Lorenzo Cain, but Dyson may be hard to move out of the starting lineup when Cain returns. It's beginning to look like Cain is injury prone.

Billy Butler has been solid as the designated hitter with a batting average of .291, six homers, and a team-leading 24 RBIs. Butler's liability is that he would have a tough time beating Charlie Weis in a 40-yard dash.

On the positive side, Kansas City's everyday players have played excellent overall defense; it's the hitting that's been a problem.

Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has received much favorable coverage from the KC media; whether or not that positive coverage is deserved is another matter. KC's hitters have one thing in common—they swing at way too many pitches out of the strike zone. Seitzer is in his fourth year as KC's hitting instructor and this negative characteristic has been consistent on all the teams he has coached. There's a simple solution to this problem: Get the players to agree to grabbing their ankles and taking a swat with a paddle for every swing they take at a bad pitch. In no time at all KC's strikeouts would decline and their walks would increase, along with their batting averages. Okay—that won't happen but it's a good idea.