Whit Merrifield has easily been the team’s MVP this year, and according to Fangraphs, one of the top 25 most valuable position players in all of baseball. He won’t even be eligible for arbitration until after next season, so the Royals will retain his services for several more seasons if they want to.
The breakout season by Adalberto Mondesi has given the Royals perhaps their best double-play combination since the days of Cookie Rojas and Freddie Patek in the early 70s. But complicating matters is the emergence of minor league infield prospect Nicky Lopez. Lopez hit .