As the Royals head into the final month and get ready to recall three younger players to fill out a 28-man roster, the bigger picture is what really matters. The club says it plans to compete in 2028, and this season has offered a handful of reasons to believe that path might actually lead somewhere.
Bobby Witt Jr. is still operating as one of the five best players in MLB, and the source makes one thing clear: he’s not fifth. His power has dropped enough to leave him with the worst ISO of his career, but just about everything else has moved in the right direction.
He’s only two stolen bases shy of last year’s total despite missing more time than he ever has before, he’s on pace for a career high in walks after reaching a double-digit walk rate for the first time, and since coming off the injured list he has been scorching hot, hitting .306/.398/.459/.857. That stretch has also come with a real bat behind him in the order, which has made it harder for teams to simply work around him the way some did early in the year.
That bat is Jac Caglianone, whose season has gone from question mark to headline act. After last year’s .157/.237/.295/.532 line in 62 games had plenty of people ready to label him a bust, he’s turned things around in a big way.
Even after a slow start this year, he’s now sitting at .284/.333/.499/.832 and looks like the leading candidate for AL Player of the Month. The power was always the calling card, but now he’s driving the ball to all fields, which makes him dangerous in a way very few hitters ever become.
He may never be the league’s best hitter or an MVP because of the chase issues, but his size and quick bat let him do damage on pitches he probably shouldn’t be swinging at anyway. And with Bobby Witt Jr. needing a sidekick, Jac has stepped into that role in a hurry.
If the Royals can get a healthy Maikel Garcia batting cleanup next season - or maybe someone even better - there’s a chance this thing starts looking a lot more dangerous.
Carter Jensen has taken a less straightforward route, but his season has also swung back in a more encouraging direction. After his September callup last year produced a .300/.391/.550/.941 line, he opened this season well before cooling off badly and slipping to .236/.303/.421/.724.
Early defensive issues and even one episode of oversleeping didn’t help his standing with fans, especially with another left-handed 23-year-old in the everyday lineup drawing scrutiny. But Jensen has tightened things up behind the plate, moving into positive territory in several defensive metrics overall, even if the blocking still needs work.
At the plate, he has also picked up steam again, hitting .244/.397/.467/.864 over the last couple of weeks while walking almost as often as he has struck out. The bat still needs to climb back above average across the full season, but a 98 wRC+ from a 23-year-old catching far more than expected is nothing to brush aside.
Noah Cameron is the lone pitcher in the group, which says plenty about how banged up the rest of the staff has been. His year has had rough stretches, but August gave the Royals something to hang onto.
Over five starts and 33.2 innings, he posted a 1.87 ERA and put himself in the conversation for pitcher of the month. The strikeout totals were uneven - three of those starts came with three or fewer punchouts - but he limited hitters to just a little over one hit per two innings, finished with a 0.80 WHIP, and allowed only one home run.
If batters aren’t reaching base and they’re not leaving the yard, they’re not scoring much. Cameron still needs to show more swing-and-miss stuff to match what he did in the final three outings of July, and the Royals would love to see September resemble August.
Even so, last year’s 2.99 ERA no longer looks like a fluke, and with the Royals forced to lean on Randy Dobnak and Daniel Lynch IV every day right now, Cameron looking like more than a swingman for 2027 matters.
That’s the common thread here: four players, four reasons to feel a little better about what’s coming. Maybe you’re skeptical about the 2027 team’s odds.
Fair enough. But with Witt, Caglianone, Jensen and Cameron all showing something real, there’s at least a foundation worth getting excited about.
The only question left is which one matters most to you.
In Other News...
Royals Bring Back A Familiar Name With His Future Still Unclear
The Royals used the roster expansion to add some familiar depth, recalling right-handers Nolan Hoffman and Easton McGee while also selecting the contract of outfielder Drew Waters. It was the kind of late-season move that reflects where Kansas City is right now, with the club looking for useful innings and a little more flexibility as the active roster grows to 28.
Waters is back in the mix after exhausting his options and going through the DFA process before clearing waivers, which keeps him in the organization for now. He is expected to fill a bench or depth role the rest of the season, even as his time with the Royals has been marked by below-average production on both sides of the ball, leaving his longer-term place on the roster very much unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Jac Caglianone Is Forcing A Big Royals Question
Jac Caglianones rise has become one of the more encouraging developments of the Royals season. After struggling through 2025 and the opening stretch of 2026, he surged in June with nine home runs and a 1.036 OPS, enough to put him in the leagues Home Run Derby and remind everyone why his power was such a big part of the hype around him in the first place. By late August, he had turned that momentum into a real season line, sitting at 23 homers with an .832 OPS.
The bigger Royals question now is how much of this is simply a hot run and how much is the start of something lasting. His improved plate discipline and the kind of exit velocity that tends to travel well are the reasons the club has reason to believe the answer could be the latter. For a team always looking for impact bats, Caglianones second-half-looking breakout is becoming harder to treat as a feel-good sidelight. [Read more 🡒]
Royals August Surge Just Brought A Tougher 2026 Reality Into Focus
Two of three against Cleveland offered the Royals another reminder that the last month can still carry some real meaning, even in a season focused on the longer view. Kansas City has gotten a useful August boost from young pieces like Jac Caglianone and Noah Cameron, while Seth Lugos recent slide has only sharpened the questions facing the club as it sorts through what the roster should look like going forward.
The front offices view of that evaluation showed up again when John Schreiber was placed on waivers and claimed by the Yankees, a move that says plenty about how Kansas City is weighing present value against future flexibility. With 2026 now coming into sharper focus, the Royals are using these late-season decisions to separate what fits next year from what simply helped bridge the gap this one. [Read more 🡒]