The shoes that have to be filled at third base in Kansas City are rather large and may never be filled by any Kansas City Royal’s player ever.  Right now Mike Moustakas, and his “Moooooooose” call seem to be filling that hole quite well. is definitely beginning to look like he could be a good following to the great third basemen of the Royal’s past, George Brett. Ever since Brett retired the team has been trying to fill a hole at third base that just would not fill up all the way.  Many have tried and many have been good enough to be average to a little above average at best but none have shown the promise that Moustakas has shown this earlier in his career.  All throughout his time in the organization people have known that he would hit and he would hit well but it is the little things that make him a potential All Star third basemen.

After going through his struggles at the Major League level, like he showed at every level when he was first promoted to that level, Moustakas have done nothing but improved every part of his game. Hitting was always at a premium for Moustakas at every level but every one always said that his defense would have to improve to become a great player at the big level.  Over the off-season Moustakas worked tirelessly and continues to work tirelessly everyday to improve his defense which by all accounts this season has looked spectacular.  When the Royals acquired shortstop Alcides Escobar from the Brewers in the Zack Greinke trade, a lot of fans and people in the organization thought he was brought in to help out the future left side of the infield since he is such a superb defender and Moustakas was just average.  But now that the defense of Moustakas has improved, not only could the two end up being the best defensive tandem on the left side of the infield in the league but now that they are both seeming to find their stride at the plate it could end up being the best left side of the infield overall. Moustakas has seemed to improve not only in his accuracy of his throws but also in his range.  Not being the quickest footed guy in the game he has to find ways to get the angle on balls hit to him so that he can make some of the plays that he has made this season.  So now with the addition of his defense it seems that hitters will never want to hit the ball to the left side against the Royals.

No question that Moustakas struggled with the bat over the first part of his rookie season but as the season went on he stepped it up a ton and showed fans what they could be watching from him for a long time coming.  The thing that everyone thought at the beginning of this season was that he would be the young star to hit his sophomore slump yet he is the one in talks of playing for the American League in the summer classic at Kauffman Stadium.  With the struggles that Eric Hosmer has shown this season, the fact that Moustakas has stepped up to the plate and just raked and stepped into the three spot in the lineup that was supposed to be filled by Hosmer is one of the reasons that the team finds themselves right in the thick of things in the Central Division.

The Royals have seemed to found themselves a little bit as a team over the past month with a winning June.  Moustakas must continue to play the way he has played this season for the Royals to have success. With the leadership of Billy Butler over the whole team, Moustakas has to step up as the leader of the young guys on this team.  Kind of like the vice president.  And the biggest thing that a leader can do is produce and so far this season the Moose has produces.

When Mike Moustakas banged a homer in just his second game as a big leaguer, hopes soared. And when he had a .385 average with four walks after four games, it looked like he was on his way to a great rookie season.

Mike Moustakas by Erika Lynn

But things went sour from that point on. By the time September rolled around, you had to wonder if Moustakas could hit big league pitching. He had not homered since his second game and had just 18 RBIs and an anemic .232 average.

But the big third baseman had struggled to adjust at every level, so the Royals stuck with him.

The show Moustakas put on in September is, the Royals hope, a preview of things to come. He batted .352 for the month and popped 4 homers, driving in 12 runs.

We all know what we WANT from Mike Moustakas. We WANT another George Brett. We want 30 homers and 100 RBIs and a .300 average every season.

But rather than talk about how it’s unfair to expect Moose to be George Brett, Royals fans might look around to see what other, mere mortals are doing at third base.

More specifically, Royals fans can ask “What are other teams in the division getting from their third basemen?”

The Royals sights should be set on becoming the best team in the division. They need some of the parts of their whole to become the best in the division. And believe it or not, Moustakas is not that far off from being the best third baseman in the division.

This season, the Tigers plan to play Miguel Cabrera at third. No one can expect Moose to be Cabrera at the plate, but Cabrera’s work at third remains to be seen. This experiment may not turn out as well as the Tigers hope.

The third basemen in the division consist of, basically, four youngsters trying to develop into solid big leaguers, and one of the best hitters of the last decade who isn’t really a natural third baseman.

For Chicago, 24-year-old Brent Morel has a couple of years of big league experience to build on, but hasn’t blossomed yet. In Cleveland, 23-year-old Lonnie Chisenhall hopes to take the position from last year’s starter, Jack Hannahan. And in Minnesota, the Twins look to 26-year-old Danny Valencia to provide the power they lack in their lineup.

It may not tell a lot to analyze last year’s numbers. But based on them, Moustakas wasn’t far from the others in the division, even with his struggles to adjust to the majors. If you average the numbers posted last season by Morel, Hannahan, Valencia and Brandon Inge of Detroit, you get numbers Moustakas could easily match.

The averages of Morel, Hannahan, Valencia and Inge, compared to Moustakas:

If Moustakas plays 123 games this season, there is no reason to think he can’t blow those numbers out of the water.

Interestingly, the guy being drummed out of a job – Hannahan – actually put up the best OBP, SLG, OPS and WAR: .331/.338/.719 and 2.2. The guy who played the most – Valencia – posted the lowest WAR (-1.1) even though he led the group with 15 homers and 72 RBIs.

The Royals find themselves in the same position as the Twins, White Sox and Indians. Each has a third baseman with minimal experience who they hope can make dramatic improvement.

Moustakas has started slowly this spring, but he won’t be moved out of the lineup by anything but injury this year. The Royals, like three other teams in the division, will wait patiently for their third-base prospect to develop.

Cabrera may post big offensive numbers this year, but the Royals hope Moustakas is the division’s best long-term.

This past week has seemed like the dog days of summer, even though that phrase is usually reserved for August. It’s usually stupid hot, and the Royals are usually losing at a good clip. Come August we’re tired of both, and ready write off the Royals until March while waiting for that first strong cold front in September.

Photo Courtesy of Minda Haas

This week in a lot of Royals Nation the temps have been near 100. Along with the heat was the humidity, and if you didn’t have humidity you had wind. Likewise, the Royals have dropped 16 of their last 26. Including being swept at home by the worst team in the league; the injury plagued Twins. For me it was my Annual “Ok I’m done with this.” Series

But then I remember: Like the 100 degree days I pine for while driving through snow, I remember that regardless of how bad the Royals are I spent the entire off-season looking forward to the season, not just the month of April. There will be a dark 4 month stretch in the winter where I’ll be looking for this stuff again. There is no sense in wishing either of them away

However, the end of this week brought some relief from the heat. It also brought some news we’ve been expecting since Spring Training. Mike Moustakas has been called up. This brings renewed energy into watching and paying attention to the Royals. “Moose & Hos” will now be in the same Major League line-up.

Mike Moustakas will make is MLB debut 50 miles from his home

The major dynamic Moustakas should add to the line-up is power. In the minors last year Moose had 36 HR in 118 games. I know it’s the minors, but even if there is a drop in production Moose should be a huge addition to the line-up. Especially when looking at previous decades power numbers. You know, what will go down as The Steroid Era? You have to go all the way back to Carlos Beltran in 2003 to find a Royals hitter with more than 25 home runs in a season. Miguel Olivo came close in 2009 with 23. Want to read something that will make you avert your eyes? Yuneski Betancourt lead the Royals in home runs last year with….16. This year the numbers are a little better, but still not good. Moustakas should help with that, and Hosmer has 5 HR in 32 games.

So the youth movement continues. The monotony of the season has been broken up. Hosmer, Moustakas, and the Law Firm of Coleman, Collins & Crow will provide enough bright spots to ignore the historically horrendous starting pitching. That’s a good thing, there are still 99 games left and no NFL waiting at the end.

When the season started many Royals fans circled June 1st. June 1st is date that almost without a doubt means Mike Moustakas will arrive in Kansas City to stay. Some think he will save the franchise. Some (me) think these kind of people are crazy. This team is awful! They get rid of all their greats like Zack Greinke. Wait, they haven’t lost any of their 4 series yet? Oh that’s right this team is better than expected, WAY better.

Photo by Erika Lynn

If you have followed me on twitter for any time or made the mistake of defending Greinke to me at the stadium, you know I have no love loss for him. I think the trade made has been fabulous and suddenly the need for Moose to save the franchise is so necessary. That trade has been a critical part of this team being above .500 and leading the wild card. As long as the Royals continue to not lose a series this team will be in the mix for the central and people in Kansas City are going to get excited. If the Royals can come out of their next 5 series without a lost series they will get into May with an above .500 record and only a month from the magical June 1st date. Notice I don’t say the Royals have won all their series because that wouldn’t be true. The Royals are 2-0 in three-game series but settled for splits in their two, two-game series this year.

This has been one of the best starts for the Royals in recent memory and some of us are believing this could be for real, maybe a little too much. Now June 1st has changed. June 1st is now more about a date for many to really start believing this team has a shot instead of just about top prospects joining the team. April has changed June 1st from a big day for a lost season to a day when this team could be making a legit run.

Now with that being said, even if we go 9 for 9 with no lost series’ by May 1st there will still be a month for the team to collapse before June 1st but I hate that kind of thinking. Yes, I get it, we have a habit of sucking but why think that way? Many people want to find the negative in the team regardless of how good things are. Yes I know we went 18-11 at a point and finished a season under 70 wins. Yes I know we have several 100 loss seasons since we last saw the playoffs. Yes I know we blew a 7 game lead and missed the playoffs. To all of you I say: SO WHAT! Why not enjoy the good times. I am so glad to ride this train right now and see what this team is doing. This Royals team is at least a year ahead of schedule. They play with heart and soul and are FUN to watch. We may win .500 we may not but It’ll be fun to watch. IF we finish April above .500, it’ll completely change the expectations of June 1st. It may still be circled, it may still mean the arrival of Mike Moustakas but it may also mean the day this team takes on a face of legitimacy. This team jumped to 14 in some power rankings this last week. 12 teams make the playoffs, to be considered 14 means this team is legitimately a fringe playoff team. We aren’t New York. We have different expectations. We had expectations for great prospects to filter in this year. With a solid April we can switch those expectations to maybe just maybe we’ll be good June 1st and instead of filtering into a bad team those prospects can be needed pieces to add to a playoff push when many thought we’d lose 100. This team has surprised, it can continue to surprise and April wins bring May hopes into June legitimacy. Come on April! Be good to us! No losses in 9 series to open the year. Do this Royals. Do it for all of us. All of the Royal Nation. Lets stop being a joke and bring in some legit baseball!

Troy can be found on Twitter as KCRoyalman. He also can be heard Sundays from 7-8p at royalmanreport.com and here on i70baseball.com with Bill Ivie, Mondays 10p-11p

Matt Kelsey took the top 10 most popular resolutions here, and applied them to the Royals. After reading his list, I have decided to add 5 items to it (because I was too lazy make any resolutions for myself, and it is easier to make resolutions for a struggling organization). Below are my 5:

11. Resolve to give fans a look into the future

Royals fans need something to be excited about this season. One place to start is its rich farm system. Widely regarded as the best in baseball, the talent in the minors includes the likes of Eric Hosmer, Mike Montgomery, John Lamb, Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Moustakas. The fans, having endured losing season after losing season, should see some light at the end of the tunnel with a few of these guys getting their proverbial ‘cups of coffee’ with the big league team. Some of these prospects might just play their way onto the roster, like Mike Moustakas, arguably the Royals most Major League ready prospect – which leads directly into number 12.

12. Resolve to avoid a Moustakas mistake

Mike Moustakas is the future of this Kansas City Royals’ team. To call him up too early might be a little bit of history repeating itself. The once proclaimed George Brett reincarnated – Alex Gordon – jumped straight to the Major Leagues from double A. If the Royals are smart about Moose, they won’t repeat the same process as they did with Gordon. The Royals should take a conservative approach and let him see approximately 150 triple A at-bats, and play into the month of June before allowing him to step on Kauffman Stadium soil. Using this formula, 2011 could be the year of the Moose.

13. Resolve to finish better than 27 games back in the division

The 2011 Royals are not going to be contenders, that is a well-known fact. The starting rotation boasts Luke Hochevar, Vin Mazzaro, Kyle Davies, and Sean O’Sullivan. The key to success starts with pitching, and quite frankly the Royals do not have it. The brightest spot for the pitching staff is the closer, Joakim Soria. With a less than impressive lineup supporting the cast of mediocre pitchers, the Royals will need some help to finish better than last place. All of that aside, the Royals could overachieve this year and turn a few heads with its stockpile of young talent. This resolution hinges on a lot of luck and a lot of energetic leadership from the talent waiting in the Minor Leagues.

14. Resolve for higher attendance

Last year, the Royals attendance ranked 23^rd out of 30. While not terrible given the fact the team was out of contention by July, fans supporting the Royals can certainly do better. Losing Zack Grienke to Milwaukee certainly does not help this cause. It needs a “face of the franchise,” someone marketable, and someone the Royals can sell to the fans as being worth the price of admission. Could Luke Hochevar live up to his draft position and become that face for the pitching staff? Perhaps Soria? Billy Butler does not exactly fit the bill for the position players but he is the Royals only suitable “face” and will have to do for now. The advertising and marketing staff members have a tough challenge in front of them, because the Royals need someone they can use to convince a casual fan to attend some games at The K this season.

15. Resolve to find some pitching

Can the Royals really rely on Luke Hochevar to be its ace this season? Losing Bruce Chen to free agency and releasing Brian Bannister are not necessarily massive losses, but this team has got to find some suitable pitching to remain competitive in the division. Another problem last year was middle relief pitching. Finding the right mix to get to Soria in the ninth inning could prove to be a difficult task with Robinson Tejada, Gil Meche, Jeremy Jeffress, and Dusty Hughes. A resolution to find some pitching from anywhere will be a beneficial endeavor for the Royals this year.

Agree or disagree with any of the resolutions? Feel free to comment below.