25 Things Needed to Compete: Mooooooooooooooooooose

This one’s pretty simple. If the Royals are going to compete, they need Mike Moustakas to step up and become a legitimate power bat in the middle of the lineup. When the Royals drafted Moose in the first round of the 2007 draft, all we heard about was the kind of power he would have. The phrase “light tower power” was thrown around without hesitation. The reviews in the minors were mixed, but a huge 2010 season in AA and then AAA got Royals fans excited for the power bat who was going to provide something the Royals had been sorely lacking over the years. He was expected to be the first of the young position players to make it to the big leagues, but was lapped by Eric Hosmer.

You all know what happened when Moustakas was called to the big leagues. He homered in his first series, but was absolutely terrible from that point until the light clicked in late August/early September. Moustakas will never be a guy who will walk too terribly often, but he’s also the rare power hitter who doesn’t figure to strike out a ton. That will lead to some wide variants in his batting average through the years, but the Royals don’t need him to hit .300. They need him to hit 25-35 homers. To compete in 2012, Mike Moustakas needs to be that power bat in the middle of the order who can hit the three run homer and put games out of reach. That would be huge.

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