1988 Kansas City Royals season explained

The 1988 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League West with a record of 84 wins and 77 losses.

Offseason

• November 6, 1987: Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar are traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Kurt Stillwell and Ted Power.^[1]
• December 10, 1987: Mélido Pérez, John Davis, Greg Hibbard, and Chuck Mount (minors) were traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Floyd Bannister and Dave Cochrane.^[2]

Regular season

• On Opening Day, the Royals faced the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays' George Bell set a record for the most home runs hit on Opening Day with three.^[3]

Notable transactions

• May 13, 1988: Bill Buckner was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]
• May 27, 1988: Steve Balboni was released by the Royals.^[5]
• June 1, 1988: 1988 Major League Baseball draft
  • Bob Hamelin was drafted by the Royals in the 2nd round. Player signed June 11, 1988.^[6]
  • Kerwin Moore was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round. Player signed June 3, 1988.^[7]
• June 3, 1988: Bud Black was traded by the Royals to the Cleveland Indians for Pat Tabler.^[8]
• August 31, 1988: Ted Power was traded by the Royals to the Detroit Tigers for Rey Palacios and Mark Lee.^[9]

Roster

1988 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Game log

Regular season

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|- style="text-align:center;"| Legend:      = Win      = Loss      = Postponement
Bold = Royals team member

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		70	211	56	.265	4	26
1B		157	589	180	.306	24	103
2B		150	537	126	.235	8	58
SS		128	459	115	.251	10	53
3B		149	559	170	.304	5		60
LF		124	439	108	.246	25	68
CF		147	591	155	.262	1	37
RF		146	507	139	.274	26	102
DH		89	242	62	.256	3	34

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	89	301	93	.309	1	49
	82	202	44	.218	1	19
	84	196	47	.240	8	25
	90	178	37	.208	1	15
	71	107	29	.271	1	6
	37	81	17	.210	1	3
	35	66	11	.167	0	2
	21	63	9	.143	2	5
	16	35	6	.171	0	2
	14	29	4	.138	0	0
	11	22	2	.091	0	1
	15	21	4	.190	0	2
	7	18	4	.222	0	1
	5	11	1	.091	0	0
	7	5	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	35	269.2	20	8	2.70	183
	35	260.2	14	16	3.80	171
	35	243.0	13	12	3.19	125
	31	189.1	12	13	4.33	113

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	22	80.1	5	6	5.94	44
	7	34.0	2	1	4.24	9
	7	29.0	1	0	2.79	11
	5	15.2	0	2	5.17	18
	2	2.2	0	1	27.00	2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	62	5	4	20	2.50	72
	45	7	2	1	3.45	47
	42	0	4	3	3.55	29
	26	0	4	6	3.58	20
	20	0	1	1	3.55	9
	19	3	2	1	4.54	14
	17	2	1	0	4.91	19
	4	0	0	0	3.60	0

Awards and records

• George Brett, Silver Slugger Award
• Willie Wilson, American League Leader, Triples^[10]
• Willie Wilson, Tied Sam Crawford's American League record, Leading AL in Triples five times^[10]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[11]

References

1. Web site: Kurt Stillwell Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More. Baseball-Reference.com.
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/perezme01.shtml Mélido Pérez
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20020402164029/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/statitudes/news/2002/03/26/openingday_btn/ SI.com – Statitudes – Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers – Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bucknbi01.shtml Bill Buckner
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/balbost01.shtml Steve Balboni
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hamelbo01.shtml Bob Hamelin
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mooreke02.shtml Kerwin Moore
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blackbu02.shtml Bud Black
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/leema03.shtml Mark Lee
10. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.95, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

• 1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac