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5 Kansas City Royals Players Off To Horrible Starts In 2015

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Ed Zurga - Getty Images Sport

5 Kansas City Royals Players Off To Horrible Starts In 2015

Omar Infante Kansas City Royals
Ed Zurga - Getty Images Sport

News regarding the Kansas City Royals is mostly positive lately, as it has been for about seven months. Still, no team can have every player crushing it every day. For varying reasons and to varying degrees, these five Royals just cannot be happy with how their 2015 season started.

5. Brian Flynn

Brian Flynn Kansas City Royals
Getty Images

5. Brian Flynn

Brian Flynn Kansas City Royals
Getty Images

There are numerous ways to have a horrible start to your year, but injury is definitely one of the worst possibilities. Throughout spring training, Brian Flynn looked good as a left-handed reliever, a role in which KC currently has very little depth. Sadly, in his first appearance in Triple-A Omaha, Flynn suffered a torn lat muscle that experts expect will sideline him for 3-5 months.

4. Francisco Pena

Francisco Pena Kansas City Royals
Lisa Blumenfeld - Getty Images Sport

4. Francisco Pena

Francisco Pena Kansas City Royals
Lisa Blumenfeld - Getty Images Sport

The Royals gave minor league catcher Francisco Pena every chance to take Erik Kratz’s job as the big-league backup this year, but Pena just couldn’t hit well enough to earn that role. Pena was .176 with a .399 OPS in his 17 at-bats in the Cactus League this season, and his .239 average through 69 at-bats so far at the Triple-A level isn’t inspiring fans, either.

3. Kyle Zimmer

Kyle Zimmer Kansas City Royals
Christian Petersen - Getty Images Sport

3. Kyle Zimmer

Kyle Zimmer Kansas City Royals
Christian Petersen - Getty Images Sport

You can really feel the frustration from Kyle Zimmer. His rehab continues to be beset by shoulder soreness, and the fear that this highly-touted, former first-rounder may never reach such possibly great heights only continues to mount.

2. Omar Infante

Omar Infante Kansas City Royals
Hannah Foslien - Getty Images Sport

2. Omar Infante

Omar Infante Kansas City Royals
Hannah Foslien - Getty Images Sport

In an impressively balanced lineup, KC second baseman Omar Infante is consistently the easiest out – or at least the least intimidating. Jarrod Dyson is the only Royal with actual playing time currently posting a worse average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage or OPS than Infante. He has twice as many at-bats as Dyson, too, so this small sample size is getting bigger as Infante keeps seeing regular starting time.

1. Jeremy Guthrie

Jeremy Guthrie Kansas City Royals
Jamie Squire - Getty Images Sport

1. Jeremy Guthrie

Jeremy Guthrie Kansas City Royals
Jamie Squire - Getty Images Sport

The back end of KC’s starting rotation is clearly the team’s weakest component right now, and while Jason Vargas finally fared well in his most recent outing, veteran Jeremy Guthrie continues to struggle this season. He’s consistent, but in a very bad way; in his four 2015 outings, Guthrie has pitched between five and seven innings and allowed between three and four runs. That’s reliable I guess, but it amounts to a 6.52 ERA.

Doug LaCerte is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DLaC67, “like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.

Doug LaCerte is a writer for RantSports. Like him on Facebook.
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