Since the All-Star break a week and a half ago, the Kansas City Royals’ fan base has been energized by the promotion of rookie Bubba Starling to the major leagues. The long-awaited promotion of the Gardner product took the focus momentarily off the teams’ dismal first half showing. Friends and relatives of the Starlings boosted attendance at Kauffman Stadium, and fans tuned in to see how the rookie would fare.

Nicky Lopez can relax as the spotlight is focused on his new teammate. Because it was just a few weeks ago that he was focus of such attention, the hope for a brighter future. Like the Starlings, Lopez’ family was on camera during each of his at bats, riding the highs and lows of breaking into the big leagues.

“It felt great to have the support before even playing my first game,” Lopez said, looking back on his initial days in the league. “To see all the fans come out and cheer for me just made me feel great. It was pretty special.”

Lopez’ promotion to the big leagues on May 14 signaled a much-needed change of direction in Kansas City, and came with an inordinate amount of attention. Despite being a slap-hitting middle infielder who wasn’t a highly ranked prospect, Lopez arrived with outlandish fanfare and outsized expectations.

The reason for such excitement? Much of it had to do with the success he had in the minor leagues. Lopez was an on-base machine. Some of it had to do with the miserable 14-27 record of the team. Fans were hungry for any kind of change.

But much of it was due to animosity toward the man Lopez replaced. Veteran utility man Chris Owings, signed as a free agent during the offseason, flopped out of the gate and instantly became the focus of fans’ frustration with the direction on the team. Owings’ signing made no sense and seemed only to be holding back younger prospects like Lopez. Owings failed miserably at the plate, but continued to get regular playing time. Despite having a solid track record as a major leaguer, fans weren’t about to wait for the 27-year-old to turn things around. Their displeasure quickly forced the Royals to promote Lopez, and Owings was released just a few weeks later. The Royals ate $3 million to move on from the mistake.

And just as Owings was seen as the face of the club’s ineptitude, Lopez was cast as the hope for the future. Both assumptions were unfair. But the initial frenzy has settled down, and Starling is taking most of the attention these days.

“Things are settling down, and that feels good,” said Lopez. “The first couple of weeks were a little hectic. I was riding the high of just being new to the big leagues. Having all my family and friends and relatives in town was really special. But now it’s just good that I can get into a routine and learn about the big league life.

“Being able to stay at my apartment by myself and not have to worry about all the distractions outside of baseball has been good. I’m learning a lot and developing, which is the biggest thing. I just want to keep developing.”

When the Royals jettisoned Owings, they moved Whit Merrifield to the outfield full time to create a regular role at second base for Lopez. The fact that the Royals repositioned one of their best players to make room for Lopez fueled expectations even more.

As should have been expected, Lopez has struggled to adjust to the major leagues. In April and May he posted a .353 batting average and a .457 on-base percentage at Triple-A that he was never going to be able to replicate in the big leagues. He was known for almost never striking out in the minors. But the pitching he’s facing now is a different animal. His strikeouts are up, and his walks are down.

But the 24-year-old Creighton product is adjusting. He’s weathered a couple short slumps and is currently hitting .241 – solid if not spectacular. As expected he’s providing no power, but his spray-hitting style and energy provides an occasional boost.

Since the hoopla settled down, Lopez has settled into a long-range view of personal development, which mirrors that of the team.

“We are working hard. We come in every day with a ‘Today is a new day’ mindset,” said the native of Naperville, Ill. “We’re just trying to get better each and every day. We know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If not next year, then in the next couple of years, we know that we’re going to be pretty good.”

Lopez has a firm grip on the second base position, for now. Versatile Erick Mejia may earn a utility role in Kansas City eventually. Gabe Cancel and newly acquired Kevin Merrill are prospects at Double-A who may threaten Lopez down the road. And in a few years, draftees Bobby Witt, Jr. and Brady McConnell might be slotted at second base.

Lopez himself knows that the key to the process is developing prospects to mesh with the Royals’ young core. He believes that help is on the way.

“The future is so bright. We are struggling right now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There are a lot of guys in the minors who are going to be good in the near future. We got guys down in the Single-A level that I haven’t really played with. But I hear really good things about them, particularly the pitching staff. And there are guys who I was with in Triple-A who are knocking on the door and just waiting for their opportunity.

“We just gotta get through this year and keep building.”

It wasn’t that long ago that Kansas City Royals players were all over the field during Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game.

This Tuesday night, Whit Merrifield will be the lowly Royals’ lone representative in the midsummer classic. Fans should be glad that if KC is to be represented by just one player, it’s a blue-collar, underdog type like Whit. Overshadowed and underpaid much of his career, Merrifield has faithfully gone about his work (although not without a chip on his shoulder), persevering to become one of the best players in the game.

Coming up just short was Hunter Dozier, who finished second in the popular vote for American League third baseman. Dozier was the leading vote getter among Royals despite missing about a fourth of his team’s games due to injury. Dozier was not selected by American League manager Alex Cora, however, and will have to watch the game from home.

A Former All-Star:

While they celebrate right fielder Merrifield as their lone All-Star, the Royals face a dilemma over what to do with their left fielder, former All-Star Alex Gordon.

Gordon was an All-Star in 2013, 2014 and 2015, when he was one of the best players on one of the best teams in the game. He signed a big contract to remain in Kansas City, then promptly fell off the face of the earth. The Royals were forced into a rebuild, and were shackled to the enormous commitment to Gordon, one they had no choice but to ride out.

Then, shockingly, Gordon started 2019 playing at an All-Star level once again. While continuing to turn in his typically stellar play in left field, the 35-year-old seemed to have found his old form at the plate. In mid-May, Gordon was hitting .299 with eight homers and 12 doubles.

Such a fantastic start to the season forced a question that a year ago would have seemed preposterous: should the Royals put forth the cash to bring back the veteran outfielder in 2020?

The question isn’t whether the Royals should extend Gordon’s current contract for the optional fifth year. Gordon isn’t worth anywhere near the $23 million that deal would call for, just as he hasn’t been worth anywhere near the $20 million they’ve had to pay for his past two mediocre seasons.

But the option does exist to allow his deal to run out, then try to sign him to a much cheaper contract. His leadership and popularity with the fan base certainly hold value. One hangup with that scheme is that Gordon is due a $4 million buyout if the Royals decline to extend him for the fifth season of the deal. So regardless what they would pay him for a new contract, you can tack on $4 million more to the price tag. Such is the economics of baseball.

The new All-Star Merrifield praised Gordon for his work ethic and the way he rebounded from a couple of difficult seasons.

“Some guys are 35 (years old) and some guys are a different 35,” Merrifield said. “He’s a different kind of 35. Not everybody ages the same. That’s a tribute to him and the way he takes care of his body. He’s showing the rest of us that just because you get older doesn’t mean you can’t play this game.”

Merrifield credits recent adjustments by Gordon when asked about the veteran’s recent resurgence.

“Baseball’s a game of constant adaptation,” Merrifield said. “You’ve got to constantly adjust. Guys are adjusting to you, so you’ve got to adjust to them.

“He’s done a great job of that. He had some struggles for a couple of years, with injury and just with baseball finding a way to humble you. But he’s done a great job of continuing to work, and the success he’s having this year is just awesome.”

Gordon told reporters in May that he’s about 60 percent sure he wants to play beyond 2019. He has three children, all under the age of 10, and admits family will weigh heavily in the decision.

Unfortunately, the Royals are in sell mode. With just a few months left in the 2019 season, would the Royals attempt to trade the popular Gordon yet this season to add prospects?

It’s doubtful. As a player with 10 years in the league and five with one team, Gordon has the right to veto any trade.

For that matter, Royals General Manager Dayton Moore probably said all he needed to about the question recently when he told reporters “I couldn’t imagine Alex Gordon in another uniform.”

If the July 31 trade deadline passes and Gordon is still a Royal, then the question becomes will he return at a greatly reduced rate, retire, or move on to another team?

Would the 13-year Royal consider playing elsewhere if the Royals don’t resign him? Chances are he feels similar to Moore on that subject. But millions of dollars and a chance to play for a winner can be mighty persuasive.

Future All Stars:

In addition to contributing one player to the big league All-Star Game, the Royals will also be represented in Sunday’s Futures Game by Double-A pitcher Brady Singer and Single-A pitcher Kris Bubic. Singer is rated #45 on MLB’s list of top 100 prospects. Both are products of the 2018 amateur draft in which the Royals loaded up on college pitchers.

The Royals are making some waves with other top prospects as well. Bobby Witt, Jr., the second player selected in the 2019 amateur draft, played his first games with the Arizona League Royals this past week.

And the Royals further bolstered their farm system when they inked 16-year-old Erick Pena from the Dominican Republic. Pena was the fifth-ranked international prospect available and has been compared to former Royals phenom Carlos Beltran. Giving $3.8 million to a 16-year-old sounds crazy, but hopefully Pena can be the type who rises quickly through the farm system, similar to recent wunderkind Juan Soto, an international prospect who reached the big leagues at 19.

“He could do for the Kansas City Royals what Patrick Mahomes has done for the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Those words, spoken by MLB commentator Jim Callis, were his way of hyping the Royals selection of Bobby Witt, Jr. in the first round of the amateur draft last Monday. Regardless whether Callis’ comment excited, or merely confused, Royals fans, he couldn’t have set the bar much higher.

To elaborate on Callis’ comment, he was essentially saying that Witt, a high school shortstop from Texas, would not just become a great baseball player. He would be lovable and larger than life. He would be must-see TV. He would become not just the face of a franchise, but of a city.

Believe it or not, that wasn’t the only thing that happened in the draft for the Royals. It only seemed like it.

Shortstops aren’t quarterbacks: The comment by Callis is an odd one to say the least. In fact, comparing a player drafted in baseball to one drafted in just about any other sport doesn’t make sense. NFL and NBA players are immediately added to the team’s roster, brought to camp and offered a chance to make a difference immediately. What they do will be observed from day one by the entire fan base. Baseball players are drafted mid-season, and then placed on the roster of some minor league team. In Witt’s case, it will be to a team whose games are watched by just a handful of people in person and a few others on video. It might be three years or longer before Witt is seen in Kauffman Stadium. In fact, there is a chance he will never reach the major leagues. That’s just how baseball works.

Can a baseball position player who bats only four times a game on average have anywhere near the impact on a franchise that a quarterback who touches the ball on every offensive play has? Not likely. But rather than criticize Callis for excessive hyperbole, let’s appreciate that a veteran analyst thinks that highly of Witt.

Where will Witt play?: The question has two responses. What position will he play, and at what level will he start?

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but Adalberto Mondesi is establishing himself as one of the most dynamic shortstops in all of baseball. His combination of speed and power is almost unmatched. He might very well be a fixture at shortstop in Kansas City for the next decade or longer.

So what does drafting a shortstop in Witt mean for the future? Royals fans need not worry about that for quite some time. It will take at least two years before Witt is considered ready for the big leagues. Probably longer.

At that point, there would be options. Mondesi, who is under contract through 2023, has played second base, and could move there. Witt could probably shift to third base pretty seamlessly. There is a chance the Royals would trade Mondesi rather than try to resign him. There are too many possible scenarios to necessitate worrying about the problem now. Besides having too many superstar shortstops is a fine problem to have.

As for where the Royals will place Witt, it will most likely be with one of the short-season teams at Burlington (North Carolina) or Idaho Falls. Both those teams’ seasons begin in mid-June and run for about 10 weeks, leaving a little time for a late-season promotion. Witt will turn 19 next week, so the Royals probably would like to see him move quickly through the lower levels.

Another shortstop?: As if there wasn’t already some concern that Mondesi and Witt will someday compete for the same position, the Royals also used their second pick on a shortstop, Brady McConnell from the University of Florida. McConnell played only one full season at Florida, so the Royals drafted him more based on his tools. Kansas City scouting director Lonnie Goldberg actually likened McConnell’s skills to those of Witt.

McConnell just turned 21, and could probably begin the season at least two levels above Witt, perhaps at high-A. Depending upon how quickly the two move through the system, one shouldn’t impede the other’s progress anytime soon. Again, you can never have too many elite shortstops.

The old college try: The Royals made 41 total selections in the draft. The 15 picks immediately following Witt were all college players. After using their first 11 picks on college players last year, this is definitely a trend. Some have wondered if the Royals are trying to speed up their rebuild by drafting older players. Others have speculated that the Royals believe scouting college players requires less projection and is therefore a more exact science. Some have even called it a mere coincidence. Whatever it is, the Royals seem to be stocking up on players more prepared to play at the higher levels of the farm system.

The Royals are really going heavy on college pitchers specifically. Last year their first 22 pitchers selected were all from colleges. This year, their first 23 pitchers were from the college ranks.

A local product: Four times, the Royals passed on Seaman product Ryan Zeferjahn, who was chosen by the Boston Red Sox with the 107^th pick. But the Royals did take Gardner Edgerton product Jake Means with the 649^th selection. The younger brother of Baltimore Orioles pitcher John Means, Jake is a third baseman at Indiana State.

The Major League Baseball annual amateur draft kicks off Monday, and the Kansas City Royals have the mixed blessing of having the second selection. They got that dubious honor by posting a miserable 58-104 record in 2018, but at least they are in position to draft an elite talent to build around.

Should things go as expected, the Royals will wind up with high school shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr., the son of a 16-year big leaguer. That is, if the Orioles don’t unexpectedly pass on college catcher Adley Rutschman, who has long been considered the top prospect this year.

Either way, the Royals are in need of a star to give their rebuild some rocket fuel. Since the days when Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez and pals climbed the ladder to the majors, the farm system has lacked star power.

But some unexpected developments at the top of the organization may provide a needed jump start. Three first round draft choices who were viewed with disappointment, if not written off altogether, may just pay dividends after all.

If over the past couple of years you paid attention to the Royals’ prospect rankings, you would not have found the names of Bubba Starling, Kyle Zimmer and Hunter Dozier. Those three dropped like stones off the prospect lists, until they were eventually disregarded. A gaping hole in the system resulted as the Royals got no benefit from three consecutive top picks.

Starling was considered a project when the Royals selected him with the fifth pick in 2011. He had a glittering three-sport resume, but unpolished tools. When he struggled to hit, and to stay healthy, he slid quickly off the prospect lists. The organization stressed its patience with Starling, but by 2017, he appeared headed for “bust” status.

Holding the fifth pick again in 2012, the Royals took Zimmer, a coveted college pitcher. But strange injuries dogged him, causing him to miss nearly all of 2014 and 2016, and all of 2018. No longer able to retain a player who was never healthy, the Royals released him prior to the 2018 season.

Next up was Dozier. Yes, the same Dozier who is raking in the major leagues in 2019. Taken with the eighth pick in 2013, his perseverance has turned him into a building block for the future. But it wasn’t long ago he was lumped in with Starling and Zimmer as disappointments. Drafted out of college, Dozier’s slow, unspectacular climb through the minors and a season lost to injury, could have been discouraging to him.

“No matter who you are, or where you’re picked, you want to get up here as quick as you can,” Dozier said. “But every guy’s story is different. You have guys like Mike Trout or Bryce Harper that are just phenoms and they get up here at 19. But for me, it took me four years to get up here, and then three full seasons to really get established.”

Dozier learned the hard way how to navigate failure, injury and self-doubt. He said the pressure is greater on high draft picks.

“You can’t put more pressure on yourself just because you’re a first rounder,” said the 27-year-old. “I think once you get drafted, you’re the same as everyone else. You’ve got to prove yourself, and you’ve got to work hard so that you deserve to get moved up from level to level.

“If you don’t play well at a level, then you’ll be stuck there. That’s just how it is. But you can’t put added pressure on yourself. You just have to work hard, do the best you can, and enjoy every level of the process. That makes it that much sweeter when you get up here.”

Zimmer tasted a bit of that sweetness recently. After releasing him in the spring of 2018, the Royals resigned him to a minor league contract, but expectations of his return were dim. Rather than work out with the team, he disappeared to a little-known (at the time) training facility called Driveline Baseball in Washington. He regained his health and rediscovered his dazzling ability. Out of nowhere, he so impressed in spring training that the Royals took him to Kansas City when they broke camp.

Zimmer’s story is still being written. After struggling the first few weeks of the big league season, he was sent to Triple-A for polish. But it’s safe to assume he’ll be back in Kansas City eventually, and he may yet prove a valuable commodity.

“Zimmer getting up here, that’s a great story…all that he went through,” Dozier said. “If he doesn’t get hurt in 2014, he would have been up here four years ago. He’s just got that kind of unbelievable talent.

“He can’t help the injuries he’s faced. It shows what kind of guy he is, to have worked as hard as he has to get back throwing again and competing again. You see how good he is now, and he’ll be back up here soon.”

And now just waiting for a call from Kansas City is Starling. Seemingly unable to hit at any level, his physical gifts appeared they might be wasted. The Royals tried everything to keep him moving up the minor league ladder. But when they were finally poised to promote him to the bigs sometime in 2018, Starling was beset once again by freak injuries. It just didn’t appear to be in the cards for him.

But the breakthrough Kansas City had hoped for Starling may have finally come. He’s stayed healthy thus far in 2019, and is finally making the kind of contact with the bat that will merit a promotion.

“Bubba has had to go over his own hurdles, and I’m sure it hasn’t been exactly like he had planned when he got drafted,” Dozier said. “But each guy has his own story. Bubba has the talent to get up here and do well. He’s got unbelievable talent. He’s playing well right now and if he can show consistency, he’ll be up here soon.”

Recent forecasts of the Royals’ return to competitiveness by 2021 didn’t put much stock in Dozier, and expected nothing from Zimmer and Starling. Suddenly finding them producing is like acquiring three new prospects to the system. If those three former top picks can finally realize their potential, the rebuild will get an unexpected and much needed jump start.