1997 Kansas City Royals season explained

Kansas City Royals
Season:	1997
League:	American League
Division:	Central
Ballpark:	Kauffman Stadium
City:	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners:	David Glass
General Managers:	Herk Robinson
Managers:	Bob Boone and Tony Muser
Television:	KMBC-TV KCWB Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis)
Radio:	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White, John Wathan, Paul Splittorff)

The 1997 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing fifth in the American League Central with a record of 67 wins and 94 losses.

Offseason

• October 28, 1996: Mike Bovee and Mark Gubicza were traded by the Royals to the Anaheim Angels for Chili Davis.^[1]
• December 13, 1996: Jeff Granger, Joe Randa, Jeff Wallace, and Jeff Martin (minors) were traded by the Royals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jay Bell and Jeff King.^[2]
• December 16, 1996: Scott Cooper was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[3]
• January 16, 1997: Ryan Thompson signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]
• January 28, 1997: Melvin Bunch was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Yamil Benítez.^[5]
• March 4, 1997: Doug Linton was released by the Royals.^[6]
• March 26, 1997: Ryan Thompson was released by the Royals.^[4]
• March 26, 1997: Bob Hamelin was released by the Royals.^[7]
• March 27, 1997: Michael Tucker and Keith Lockhart were traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jermaine Dye and Jamie Walker.^[8]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• April 17, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[9]
• June 6, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was released by the Royals.^[9]
• July 15, 1997: Chris Stynes and Jon Nunnally were traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Héctor Carrasco and Scott Service.^[10]
• July 29, 1997: Matt Treanor was traded by the Royals to the Florida Marlins for Matt Whisenant.^[11]

Roster

1997 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (third base) (bench)

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		82	257	61	.237	8	35
1B		155	543	129	.238	28	112
2B		106	424	126	.297	2	39
SS		153	573	167	.291	21	92
3B		77	252	58	.230	8	33
LF		97	346	107	.309	1	36
CF		97	367	100	.272	2	22
RF		75	263	62	.236	7	22
DH		140	477	133	.279	30	90

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
	146	472	130	.275	8	48
	84	240	58	.242	7	31
	53	191	51	.267	8	21
	49	187	52	.278	9	31
	80	162	39	.241	1	13
	75	159	32	.201	3	15
	51	130	31	.238	5	18
	74	123	34	.276	2	10
	31	101	26	.257	2	9
	34	94	29	.309	1	14
	27	69	20	.290	2	8
	13	38	8	.211	1	1
	17	35	6	.171	1	2
	16	31	7	.226	0	3
	13	29	7	.241	1	4
	6	9	2	.222	0	2
	5	8	2	.250	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
	34	235.2	9	13	3.40	196
	32	213.1	13	12	5.02	113
	33	203.1	9	12	4.69	129
	30	170.1	6	9	5.50	116
	21	112.0	5	8	5.46	52

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
	21	78.1	4	7	5.97	36
	8	24.2	1	2	4.38	16

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
	55	1	4	14	3.49	48
	50	3	3	0	5.44	24
	47	3	5	11	4.22	34
	34	4	3	1	3.02	28
	32	0	2	0	5.06	16
	28	1	6	0	5.45	30
	24	4	0	1	3.31	28
	24	1	0	0	2.84	16
	18	1	2	1	6.61	13
	16	2	0	0	3.54	17
	12	0	3	0	4.76	19
	10	0	2	1	6.43	10
	7	0	0	0	9.45	10
	7	0	1	0	10.80	3
	4	0	0	0	1.93	1
	3	0	0	0	3.60	3
	3	0	0	0	13.50	2
	1	0	0	0	4.50	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lansing^[12]

References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/davisch01.shtml Chili Davis
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellja01.shtml Jay Bell
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coopesc01.shtml Scott Cooper
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thompry01.shtml Ryan Thompson
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/benitya01.shtml Yamil Benítez
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lintodo01.shtml Doug Linton
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hamelbo01.shtml Bob Hamelin
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tuckemi01.shtml Michael Tucker
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/vanpoto01.shtml Todd Van Poppel
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stynech01.shtml Chris Stynes
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/treanma01.shtml Matt Treanor
12. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

• 1997 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1997 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac