How Did Hunter Renfroe Turn it Around?

The Royals right fielder was staring down the barrel of a DFA in mid-May, but he started hitting and hasn't stopped since.

When the Royals signed Hunter Renfroe to a contract with a player option for 2025, I was not a fan. I saw the logic in a one-year deal for a relatively low price of $6.5 million, even after a bad season, but I hated the idea that he had the power to determine if he was under contract for 2025 as well. He had a rough 2023, but he hit a combined .257/.315/.497 in 2021 and 2022, which isn’t great, but it came with 60 home runs and 117 total extra base hits. The idea was for him to hit sixth in the Royals lineup, and if he could get back to the production, great.

But his season was just a disaster from the start. He was hitless in his first four games. He did get a single hit in each of his next six games and two the day after that streak ended, but after going 0 for 4 in a loss in Anaheim, he was hitting .140/.214/.252. That’s not playable for a speedster who gives you great defense, let alone a plodding right fielder with only one great attribute - his arm. He’d already started sitting more. At that point, the Royals had played 41 games, and he’d started just 31 of them after starting 13 of the first 16. It really felt like this was headed for a breakup.