Kauffman Stadium's New Dimensions Could Play A Role In Jonathan India's Bounce Back Year

During November of the 2024 offseason, the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds teamed up for a trade, with the Royals acquiring utility player Jonathan India and outfielder Joey Wiemer for starting pitcher Brady Singer. 

The headliner was India, who was expected to come in and provide stability atop the Royals' lineup, giving Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, and Salvador Perez a chance to drive in India, who posted a .352 on-base percentage during the 2024 season with the Reds. 

Speaking at the time of the trade to the media, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo talked about the excitement in bringing in the 2021 National League Rookie of the Year. 

“Clearly, we were looking for a leadoff hitter,” Picollo said. “We wanted to address on-base. We wanted somebody to provide stability for us in that leadoff spot, and Jonathan’s going to do that. We were very happy to acquire him.” 

Flash forward to today, India wrapped up his first season with the Royals with a slash line of .233/.323/.346, through 136 games played. Over 497 at-bats, India hit a career low, nine home runs, and drove in 45 runs. 

India gave the Royals positional flexibility, making starts at second base, third base, and left field, but career lows in average, on-base percentage, slugging, and on-base-plus-slugging put a damper on the acquisition. 

The change in home ballparks could have played a factor in the regression. Great American Ball Park, the home of the Reds, ranks near the top of the list in terms of hitter-friendly ballparks, compared to Kauffman Stadium, which is in the middle to bottom in most categories. Over the past three seasons, Great American Ball Park trails only Dodger Stadium for average home runs given up per season. Kauffman Stadium ranks 24th on per Baseball Savant. 

Kauffman Stadium has long been known to have a spacious outfield, as seen by giving up the second-most doubles and triples in the past three years, per Baseball Savant. India was unable to take advantage of that, totalling only 29 doubles and zero triples. 

India’s BABIP reached a new career low in 2025, coming in at .279, well below the previous low of .293 set in 2024, so while there were concerns in year one with the Royals, there are some positives to take into 2026. 

Belief in Jonathan India With Dimension Change

The Royals showed their belief in India during the offseason, bringing back India for his final year of arbitration on a one-year, $8 million contract. With one more year before reaching free agency, India should be motivated more than ever to put together a strong season. 

Comparing India’s Rookie of the Year season to his first with the Royals, India’s average exit velocity was very similar, 87.6 in year one to 87.9 this past season. India improved his launch angle from 13.1 to 14.7, which should correlate to more extra base hits in the spacious Kauffman. 

As many fans know, Kauffman Stadium is changing its dimensions for the 2026 season. The walls are being lowered from 10 feet to 8 feet, and the left-field corner will move in from 356 feet to 353 feet. The left-center and right-center gaps are going to be brought in from 389 feet to 379 feet, making the power alleys much more reachable. Center field remains untouched at 410 feet. 

When comparing India’s new look home to his old home in Cincinnati, where left field sits at 328 feet, left-center is 379 feet, center field is 404 feet, right-center is 370 feet, and right field is 325 feet. 

The gap in left field is now the same, and while there is a further distance in left field, the wall is shorter at Kauffman, sitting at eight feet as opposed to 12. India, which boasts a launch angle of a player who hits more line drives, could start to find more home runs with the lower walls. 

While season one didn’t go as planned in Kansas City for India, underlying numbers and a dimension change at Kauffman could result in a better year for India as the Royals hunt down a return to October baseball.