The Baseball Scholar

The 20 Greatest Kansas City Royals of All-Time

Dave Franks
2–4 minutes

Updated 11/18/2025

To be eligible, position players needed 1,500 plate appearances and starting pitchers had to have started a minimum of 75 games for the franchise.

  1. George Brett

    • Age: 20 – 40
    • Years: 1973 – 1993
    • Position(s): 3B, DH, 1B

    George Brett
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    88.6 132 2707 11624 10349 1583 3154 665 137 317 1596 201 1096 908 .305 .368 .487 .855

  2. Kevin Appier

    • Age: 21 – 31, 35 – 36
    • Years: 1989 – 1999, 2003 – 2004
    • Position(s): SP

    Kevin Appier
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    47.1 77 287 275 115 92 3.49 1843.2 32 10 0 771 714 634 1458 19.0% 1.25

  3. Bret Saberhagen

    • Age: 20 – 27
    • Years: 1984 – 1991
    • Position(s): SP

    Bret Saberhagen
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    40.7 78 252 226 110 78 3.21 1660.1 64 14 1 650 593 331 1093 16.3% 1.13

  4. Amos Otis

    • Age: 23 – 36
    • Years: 1970 – 1983
    • Position(s): CF

    Amos Otis
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    44.8 118 1891 7969 7050 1074 1977 365 65 193 992 340 739 953 .280 .344 .432 .777

  5. Mark Gubicza

    • Age: 21 – 33
    • Years: 1984 – 1996
    • Position(s): SP

    Mark Gubicza
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    38.0 91 382 327 132 135 3.92 2218.1 42 16 2 1050 965 783 1366 14.4% 1.36

  6. Willie Wilson

    • Age: 20 – 34
    • Years: 1976 – 1990
    • Position(s): CF, LF

    Willie Wilson
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    42.4 95 1787 7302 6799 1060 1968 241 133 40 509 612 360 990 .289 .326 .381 .707

  7. Alex Gordon

    • Age: 23 – 36
    • Years: 2007 – 2020
    • Position(s): LF, 3B

    Alex Gordon
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    35.2 102 1753 7250 6391 867 1643 357 26 190 749 113 684 1535 .257 .338 .410 .748

  8. Zack Greinke

    • Age: 20 – 26, 38 – 39
    • Years: 2004 – 2010, 2022 – 2023
    • Position(s): SP

    Zack Greinke
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    29.8 89 266 222 66 91 3.93 1387.1 12 3 1 656 606 330 1101 18.9% 1.27

  9. Bobby Witt, JrActive

    • Age: 22 – 25
    • Years: 2022 – 2025
    • Position(s): SS

    Bobby Witt, Jr
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    21.7 129 626 2722 2491 403 722 151 34 105 373 148 176 487 .290 .340 .504 .844

  10. John Mayberry

    • Age: 23 – 28
    • Years: 1972 – 1977
    • Position(s): 1B, DH

    John Mayberry
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    21.4 133 897 3752 3131 459 816 139 10 143 552 16 561 457 .261 .373 .448 .821

  11. Hal McRae

    • Age: 27 – 41
    • Years: 1973 – 1987
    • Position(s): DH, LF, RF

    Hal McRae
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    27.6 125 1837 7361 6568 873 1924 449 63 169 1012 105 616 697 .293 .355 .457 .812

  12. Carlos Beltran

    • Age: 21 – 27
    • Years: 1998 – 2004
    • Position(s): CF

    Carlos Beltran
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    24.8 110 795 3512 3134 546 899 156 45 123 516 164 316 584 .287 .351 .483 .834

  13. Charlie Leibrandt

    • Age: 27 – 32
    • Years: 1984 – 1989
    • Position(s): SP

    Charlie Leibrandt
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    22.8 87 194 187 76 61 3.60 1257 34 10 0 563 503 359 618 11.6% 1.32

  14. Lorenzo Cain

    • Age: 25 – 31
    • Years: 2011 – 2017
    • Position(s): CF, RF

    Lorenzo Cain
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    24.4 107 713 2894 2646 383 765 140 21 56 308 120 195 540 .289 .342 .421 .763

  15. Salvador PerezActive

    • Age: 21 – 28, 30 – 35
    • Years: 2011 – 2018, 2020 – 2025
    • Position(s): C, DH


    Salvador Perez
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    35. 103 1707 6904 6477 710 1712 320 11 303 1016 6 271 1303 .264 .301 .457 .759

  16. Mike Sweeney

    • Age: 21 – 33
    • Years: 1995 – 2007
    • Position(s): 1B, DH, C

    Mike Sweeney
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    23.3 118 1282 5278 4669 700 1398 297 5 197 837 50 484 555 .299 .369 .491 .860

  17. Dennis Leonard

    • Age: 23 – 32, 34 – 35
    • Years: 1974 – 1983, 1985 – 1986
    • Position(s): SP

    Dennis Leonard
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO % WHIP
    25.7 93 312 302 144 106 3.70 2187 103 23 1 1008 898 622 1323 14.5% 1.26

  18. Danny Tartabull

    • Age: 24 -28
    • Years: 1987 – 1991
    • Position(s): RF, DH

    Danny Tartabull
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    12.8 145 657 2684 2327 348 674 141 9 124 425 28 325 592 .290 .376 .517 .894

  19. Darrell Porter

    • Age: 25 – 28
    • Years: 1977 – 1980
    • Position(s): C, DH

    Darrell Porter
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    16.8 121 555 2262 1896 290 514 85 21 61 301 5 318 260 .271 .373 .434 .808

  20. Kevin Seitzer

    • Age: 24 – 29
    • Years: 1986 – 1991
    • Position(s): 3B

    Kevin Seitzer
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    17.3 118 741 3163 2749 408 809 128 24 33 265 50 369 326 .294 .378 .394 .772

One response to “The 20 Greatest Kansas City Royals of All-Time”

  1. Joseph Genovese Avatar
    Joseph Genovese

    Lorenzo Cain over “The Quiz”?

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100 Greatest Players of all time