Royals' homegrown lineup 'just the beginning'

KANSAS CITY -- Up until this season, there had been only one time in franchise history that the Royals fielded a starting lineup of 10 players -- including the starting pitcher -- who were originally signed and drafted by the organization.

That was Sept. 19, 1990, in Minnesota, with George Brett as the designated hitter and Kevin Seitzer at second base. Brian McRae was in center field, Bo Jackson in left and Kevin Appier hurled nine shutout innings in what would be an eventual loss.

Now for the second time in a week, the Royals sent out a completely homegrown lineup in Friday night’s 7-4 loss to the Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium:

• Left fielder MJ Melendez (2017 Draft, second round)
• Second baseman Michael Massey (2019 Draft, fourth round)
• Catcher Salvador Perez (2006 international signing period)
• Designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino (2019 Draft, 11th round)
• Third baseman Hunter Dozier (2013 Draft, first round)
• First baseman Nick Pratto (2017 Draft, first round)
• Right fielder Nate Eaton (2018 Draft, 21st round)
• Center fielder Kyle Isbel (2018 Draft, third round)
• Shortstop Nicky Lopez (2016 Draft, fifth round)

And starter Zack Greinke was selected No. 6 overall by Kansas City in the 2002 Draft.

“I’ve always thought it was a compliment, when you have all these guys contributing at the Major League level,” manager Mike Matheny said. “They’re all growing up through the organization.”

Michael A. Taylor, who was drafted by the Nationals, will start most games in center field for the rest of the season, but other than that, the Royals are committing to this group of position players. Veteran catcher Perez -- who hit a Statcast-projected 454-foot home run on Friday for his second in as many games -- and utilityman Dozier are leading the charge, followed by a young group of rookies.

Against the Red Sox, there were six rookies in the lineup. Melendez drove in two runs atop the lineup, while Pasquantino went 3-for-5. And that rookie number won’t diminish much over the rest of the season; Bobby Witt Jr. got a scheduled day off on Friday -- he was available off the bench and would have pinch-hit in the ninth, Matheny said, if the score was closer -- but the 22-year-old infielder figures to be a mainstay in the lineup as well the rest of the year.

“It’s going to be really fluid here for a while,” Matheny said. “But there could easily be seven of the nine all rookies. I just love watching them play. I love it.”

There will be mistakes as this group adjusts to the Majors. The Royals’ offense left 10 on base and went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the loss, unable to drive runners across until a three-run eighth inning.

Kansas City was down early because veteran starter Greinke yielded four runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, with the middle of the Red Sox order doing most of the damage.

“They weren’t really doing what I wanted them to do,” Greinke said. “Threw some close pitches early in some counts that they took. It was like they were ready to swing when I didn’t want them to swing and weren’t ready to swing when I wanted them to swing. Not a lot went how it was planned.”

The Royals’ defense didn’t always help the pitching out, either. With lefty reliever Amir Garrett on the mound in the sixth, Eric Hosmer sliced a ball to left field. But Melendez, a primary catcher who is learning the outfield on the fly with Perez behind the plate, wasn’t able to corral it and he was charged with an error. Hosmer scored a batter later for the Red Sox to increase their lead.

“You’re going to make mistakes,” Melendez said. “Obviously should have caught that ball. It sliced a little more than I thought. Just misread it. Something that I’ll get to the field here tomorrow and do a bit of early work, fix it, [so] it doesn’t happen again.”

But overall, seeing the homegrown lineup with rookies galore on Friday was a testament to what the Royals are trying to build in the next couple of years with a core group of position players hungry to bring a championship to Kansas City.

That’s certainly felt around the clubhouse, even through these losses.

“It’s exciting,” Melendez said. “I think this is just the beginning. We’re going to have some really, really good years to come. … It’s a learning process, a growing process, something that we’re going to get better at each and every day that we go on that field.”