Awards Season: After the worst first half in the Royals' history, it's time to hand out some awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — You made it, Royals fans. 

You survived the worst first half in franchise history. You weathered 68 losses (a club record before the break), and you weathered a crumbling starting rotation, and you even weathered the All-Star catcher hurting himself while lifting luggage in the days before the season opener. 

You slogged through 30 consecutive games without more than five runs and 28 losses in 32 games and three losing streaks of at least nine games. (As colleague Jayson Stark points out, the Yankees have had just three streaks that long in the past 65 years.) 

Only 67 more games to go! 

The Royals concluded the first half Sunday afternoon, falling 10-1 to the White Sox in Chicago. Starting pitcher Burch Smith lasted two innings in a planned bullpen game. The only offense came courtesy a homer from shortstop Adalberto Mondesi. 

And now, they press on. 

Salvador Perez will start his fifth consecutive All-Star Game on Tuesday at Nationals Park after Rays catcher Wilson Ramos went down with an injury. The Royals will open the second half Friday against the Twins at Kauffman Stadium. The club must finish at least 30-37 in the second half to avoid tying the 2005 Royals’ franchise record of 106 losses.   

But first, it is time to remember (and then quickly forget) the Royals’ first half. It’s time for some awards.

The award for the most ridiculous minor-league numbers goes to … Seuly Matias 

Matias, 19, spent part of his afternoon Sunday hanging out with his idols. He hit batting practice in front of Vladimir Guerrero. He shared a clubhouse with David Ortiz in the hours before the Futures Game at Nationals Park. 

And then, he did what he has done all year long. He stepped into the batter’s box against Yankees prospect Justus Sheffield in the second inning. He saw a pitch he could reach. And he clubbed an opposite-field solo homer into the right-field bullpen, skipping around the bases after his latest blast.

.@Royals prospect Seuly Matias leads @MiLB with 26 homers.

He’s showing off that power in D.C. pic.twitter.com/TApOFk5xZD

— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2018

For Matias, an outfielder from the Dominican Republic, the homer was his 27th in 75 games in 2018. That’s not a typo. His overall numbers need a little more polish, of course. He entered the day batting .213/.293/.549 with 26 homers and 109 strikeouts at Low-A Lexington. But for one afternoon in a major-league setting, the power was on display for all to see.  

“He’s still in the developing stages,” said Royals assistant general manager Rene Francisco. “He has the power, but we wish he can hit for average, which he probably can later on. He’s still young. But what attracted us was the total package.”

Matias offers a strong arm, an imposing frame (he’s listed at 6 feet, 3 inches and 200 pounds) and the athleticism to play the outfield. As he stood in a room Sunday with some of the best prospects in baseball, he did not appear anxious or awed. 

“It’s an opportunity,” he said. 

In his first Futures Game, Matias opened the game by clubbing a homer and striking out in his first two at-bats. He later added a rare sight: a single. 

In his first 74 games at Lexington, he had 26 homers and just 20 singles. On Sunday here at Nationals Park, he took another step forward on his path to the big leagues.  

The award for best performance under pressure goes to … Blaine Boyer  

The veteran reliever posted an 11.76 ERA in 20 appearances before landing on the disabled list in late May. He has not pitched since. Yet if this is it for Boyer’s tenure in Kansas City, he managed one incredibly valuable moment on a highway in Toronto back in April. 

In the moments after a team bus was rocked by a giant piece of ice, Boyer hopped up from his seat and helped a bus driver named Fred Folkerts regain control of the wheel and guide the bus safely to the side of the highway. 

Boyer would dismiss the label of “hero” in the days after the incident. Folkerts, however, was grateful for the assistance.      

“He was bloodied up,” Boyer said then. “The whole bus was rocked.”

“He was asking me silly questions,” Folkerts recalled. “ ‘Are you a hockey fan? Do you follow baseball?’ But now that I’m sitting here with my wife, I think he was keeping me from going into shock.”

The award for best goodbye goes to … Kelvin Herrera   

Herrera was one of the first great success stories from the Royals’ rebuilt international scouting operation, signing out of the Dominican Republic for peanuts and growing into one of the best relievers in baseball. He helped the club to consecutive World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015, serving as the first arm in the HDH formula. But he is headed for free agency this winter, which meant his time in Kansas City was coming to an end. 

Fortunately for the Kansas City front office, Herrera delivered one final goodbye gift, posting a 1.05 ERA with 22 strikeouts and two walks in his first 27 appearances of the year. The Royals traded him to the Washington Nationals on June 18 for infielder Kelvin Gutierrez, pitcher Yohanse Morel and outfielder Blake Perkins. He offered an emotional farewell at Kauffman Stadium on his final day. 

Kelvin Herrera: “I was born and raised as a player here — this is tough.” pic.twitter.com/crlgGyfMou

— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) June 19, 2018

Herrera has not been perfect in Washington, logging a 4.66 ERA in 10 appearances. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 1.67. He did, however, exit Kansas City in style. 

The award for best quote goes to … Ned Yost  

Yost entered the season as the heavy favorite in this category, and he opened April like Secretariat at the Belmont, offering these words on a Monday in Toronto: 

“If you come to a dome and get banged,” he said, “something ain’t right.” 

OK, the context. The Royals were in the midst of a miserable April, one in which snow and cold kept wreaking havoc on the schedule. The club traveled to Toronto on the night of April 15, expecting to start a series away from the elements in the air-conditioned Rogers Centre. And then a piece of ice fell off the CN Tower and damaged the dome’s roof, postponing the series opener.

Not right, indeed.

The award for second-best quote goes to … Ned Yost 

Remember Salvador Perez’s “Fun Police” routine against the Chicago White Sox? Well, Yost also had the best take on that situation. 

“The way things have been going, you’re not in the most jovial of moods anyway,” Yost said. “And then you start off the game with a homer, and then the guy’s screaming. Yeah, it tends to give you the ass.”

Moving along.

The award for the strangest injury goes to … Salvador Perez 

It’s safe to say Perez will have rookies carrying his bags for the rest of his career. 

Salvador Perez says he missed a step while carrying luggage in his house. His left knee hyperextended and the MRI showed a Grade 2 tear of his MCL. He’ll miss four to six weeks: pic.twitter.com/GHNXQaBO9t

— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) March 28, 2018

The award for the most valuable Royal of the first half goes to … Whit Merrifield 

When the All-Star teams were announced last Sunday, it was hard to call Whit Merrifield a bona fide “snub.”  The three second basemen picked ahead of him — Houston’s Jose Altuve, New York’s Gleyber Torres and Oakland’s Jed Lowrie — are all having tremendous seasons. Merrifield, the Royals’ 29-year-old super-utility man, was caught in a roster crunch. 

And yet it remains clear that Merrifield was the most deserving player on the Royals’ roster. He led the club in wins above replacement (2.8), on-base percentage (.378), stolen bases (17) and doubles (30) while offering strong defense at multiple positions and elite base running. He is on pace to sail past the 2.9 WAR he accumulated during a breakout 2017. 

And, yes, he also has a desire to remain in Kansas City despite hearing his name in multiple trade rumors across the last month. 

The award for the minor-league stat line that makes you turn your head: Nicky Lopez 

Lopez, a shortstop and one of the top prospects in the system, entered Sunday having played 276 games in the minor leagues. He had walked 124 times in those games. He had struck out just 115 times. 

For Royals fans, the idea of a shortstop who walks more than he strikes out could qualify as manna from heaven. The blend of plate discipline and contact is also one reason the Royals promoted Lopez to Triple-A Omaha after a half-season at Northwest Arkansas.

Don’t expect to see Lopez in Kansas City soon. He does not need to be protected on the 40-man roster this offseason, which means he will likely spend the rest of the season in Omaha. But Lopez’s time is coming soon.

And finally, a lifetime achievement award for … Alcides Escobar. 

Escobar had started 421 consecutive games at shortstop when manager Ned Yost finally gave him a day off July 8. It was a feat that was both amazing and mystifying.

Since his last day off in 2015, Escobar was named Most Valuable Player of the 2015 ALCS, won a World Series, and played in 162 games in both 2016 and 2017. He’d also become one of the worst offensive players in the game. 

Escobar was batting .194 with a .243 on-base percentage and .515 OPS when Yost informed him that he would finally sit. He offered just one message when Yost ended the streak. 

“Thank you,” he said. 

It was time for the streak to end, but it will never be forgotten. The same, of course, could be said about the first half of the Royals’ 2018 season. 

(Top photo of Seuly Matias by Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)