Recently I asked some questions of Craig Brown of Royals Authority and Will McDonald of Royals Review. They kindly supplied some great answers, so check out their blogs. You can view the first part of the interviews here.
Which Royal is going to surprise people in 2007?
Craig: I think the power projections for Ryan Shealy are low. He won’t hit as many HR in Kansas City as he would have in Colorado, but I’m still leaning toward 30 HR for him. He just needs to learn to hit lefties at the Major League level and drive that inside pitch.
It might not fall under the category of surprise, but Alex Gordon is everything he’s supposed to be. The only thing that will keep him from the Opening Day roster is if he fails miserably in Spring Training. He’s ready for the big leagues and has to be a leading candidate for Rookie Of The Year.
Will: In a good way? I thought that was like threesomes and being able to dunk a basketball, something that happens to other people. I expect Meche to have a flukey-good start ERA-wise, with some subsequent crowing from the Royals to Jayson Stark and other usual suspects. I’ve always liked David Riske so he’s my second candidate. Its a strange roster, filled with horrible players and low-upside OK players. And maybe Alex Gordon. Reggie Sanders may surprise people with a league-average start, proving he’s still alive.
