22-year old lefty swinging 3B Mike Moustakas is finally starting to get it with the bat for the Royals. He has played in 14 games so far in September and he is 19 for 57 (.333 avg, .911 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 81 games overall this year for the Royals and he is 77 for 307 (.251 avg, .638 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 4 homers, 29 RBIs and 1 stolen bases. Moustakas came into this season as the Royals’ #3 prospect, so they have high hopes for him as they hope he will be a cornerstone of the Royals’ foundation in the future.

25-year old DH/1B Billy Butler has had another solid year for the Royals in 2011. Butler has played in 150 games for the Royals so far this year and he is 163 of 559 (.292 avg, .825 OPS) with 71 runs scored, 19 homers, 89 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 683 games in his first 5 years with the Royals and he is 753 for 2,534 (.297 avg, .818 OPS) with 308 runs scored, 74 homers, 367 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Butler is going to be one of the building blocks for a solid future for the Royals. They just need to add good starting pitching and they will then start competing for the playoffs once again.

21-year old lefty swinging rookie 1B Eric Hosmer has turned in an outstanding rookie season for the Royals, but he’s finishing it with a bang. Hosmer has played in 11 games so far in September and he is 18 for 44 (.409 avg) with 13 runs scored, 5 homers, 12 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 113 games overall for the Royals this year and he is 131 of 457 (.287 avg, .796 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 17 homers, 69 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Hosmer is going to be a building block for the Royals’ future, which is starting to look really bright.

27-year old lefty swinging LF Alex Gordon appears to be a late bloomer for the Royals. In his first 4 years with the Royals, Gordon played in 408 games in which he was 352 for 1,442 (.244 avg, .733 OPS) with 194 runs scored, 45 homers, 161 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. When he started out with the Royals, he was a 3B and many were expecting him to be the next George Brett. That pressure seemed to weigh on Gordon. This spring, the Royals stuck Gordon out in LF and he has responded big time. Gordon has played in 129 games for the Royals so far this year and he is 156 for 519 (.301 avg, .871 OPS) with 85 runs scored, 18 homers, 71 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. The Royals are very happy with Gordon this year as they were starting to run out of patience with him.

26-year old switch-hitting CF Melky Cabrera was just supposed to be a stopgap in CF until Lorenzo Cain was ready to take over. But, Cabrera has been so good this year that the Royals should think about re-signing him. Cabrera has played in 130 games for the Royals so far this year and he is 166 for 551 (.301 avg, .807 OPS) with 79 runs scored, 17 homers, 76 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He has already set new career highs in runs scored, homers, RBIs and stolen bases already and he still has another month to go. It will be interesting to see if the Royals try to re-sign Cabrera for 2012 and beyond or if they decide to go with Lorenzo Cain in CF.