Depth Check: A Look At The Royals' Corner Outfield In 2026

The Royals' 2025 season did not go exactly as planned. After a 2024 season full of excitement, most hoped the team would continue to build on that momentum and come into 2025 fighting for a playoff spot. While they did finish with a winning record (take the W’s where you can, folks), there was a lot left to be desired. One position that went as planned was the corner outfield spots. Coming into the year, the front office made no major moves to address the corners on the grass, and it showed. We started 2025 trotting out MJ Melendez in left field and Hunter Renfroe in right field, and by the time June rolled around, neither player was on the Royals' 26-man roster. Renfroe was DFA’d, and MJ was sent down to Omaha (with a one-week call-up late July).

There was some optimism that Kansas City could find solutions internally, with talks about the newly acquired Jonathan India moving to left at least part-time, but that did not solve any problems, as India had his statistically worst season in his major league career and never quite got comfortable in the outfield. By the end of the season, the Royals were dead last in basically any metric available on both the left and right sides of the outfield. If 2026 is to be a competitive one, it’s clear that the outfield must be addressed. Let’s now take a look at where the Royals stand in 2026 for their corner outfielders.

Left Field

Starter: John Rave (.196/.283/.307, 18 runs, 4 home runs, 14 RBIs, .590 OPS, and 65 wRC+)
There really is no answer to who the starter is for left field, so we will just take this rundown in the order of games played in the position. Rave made his major league debut this year for the Royals at 27 years old and played 208 innings in left and 70 total games at both corner spots. The 2019 5th-round draft pick showed flashes during his stint in Kansas City. While initially struggling at the plate in the first half of the season, Rave came out of the All-Star break with some pop, hitting three home runs in the first five games post-break. He cooled relatively quickly, however, and was sent back down to Triple-A at the end of August, but was brought back up the last couple of weeks of September, where he finished the season and collected just three hits in 19 plate appearances. Rave will certainly get some more time at Kauffman, at least next season, but it’s clear he is not the long-term answer at this time.

Depth: Nick Loftin (.208/.278/.357, 17 runs, 4 home runs, 20 RBIs, .635 OPS, and 73 wRC+)
Loftin got his first cup of coffee in 2023 and has thus far logged 143 games and 427 plate appearances. His career OPS is .617 with a 72 wRC+, and while he offers utility by being able to play first, second, third, and left field, he still isn’t much of a net positive, providing only 0.2 fWAR in his career, including 0.1 this year. Left field seems to be his worst position defensively, posting a -2 DRS this past season, where he logged 208 innings over 38 games. He walks at a below-average clip of 8.7% and strikes out a respectable 14.8%. It was clear this year he was another guinea pig in the left field laboratory from the front office, after logging only nine total innings in his first two seasons with the team. He is probably better suited as depth for the infield at this point.

More “Depth”: Dairon Blanco
It’s getting grim out here, folks. Blanco did not spend much time with the Royals this year, getting just one hit in eight plate appearances. He’s got speed going for him, which always leaves the possibility for pinch running, but there isn’t much to be said when it comes to his left field prospects.

Right Field

Starter: Jac Caglianone (.157/.237/.295, 19 runs, 7 home runs, 18 RBIs, .532 OPS, and 46 wRC+)
While Caglianone’s highly anticipated first season was a disappointment, there is still plenty of room for optimism when evaluating him long-term. After scorching the minor leagues in a short amount of time, he was called up in June and struggled mightily in his first professional season. No expectations were coming into the year that Caglianone would get the call from Kansas City, but due to such abysmal production from the outfield, the front office decided to make the move after just a few short months of professional baseball from the Florida prospect.

It shouldn’t be a surprise for a true rookie to struggle during his first cup of coffee, but I don’t think anyone expected this kind of struggle. He struck out at a 22% clip and only walked 18 times in 232 plate appearances (7.8%). To be quite frank, there wasn’t a lot to look at to find positives. As a power bat, you need to be able to punish the fastball. He collected three extra base hits and hit at just a .167 rate against the four-seamer. And his fielding as a right fielder was nothing spectacular and perhaps just flat out bad, as seen by his -4 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved). What optimism we can hold onto is this isn’t the first time a highly touted rookie has a poor debut, there is still plenty of time and adjustments that can be made for him to come into 2026 with a fresh outlook and put together a solid year, what remains to be seen is if that will happen with a minor league club or in Kansas City.

Depth- Kameron Misner (.213/.273/.345, 27 runs, 5 home runs, 22 RBIs, .618 OPS, and 71 wRC+)
The Royals started early November with a trade for the Tampa Bay prospect. Misner, who will turn 28 before spring training, is a plus defender with good speed both in the field and on the base paths. It’s unclear whether he was brought in as depth in center field or right field, but he has shown he can be a defensive asset in either position. He should be considered a project, but could provide value in an area where the team needs it most.