# 2001 Kansas City Royals season

The 2001 Kansas City Royals season was the 33rd season for the franchise, and their 29th at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals failed to improve on their 77-85 record from 2000 and finished fifth in the American League Central with a record of 65 wins and 97 losses. The Royals missed the postseason for the 16th consecutive season.

## Offseason

* January 8, 2001: Johnny Damon was traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Kansas City Royals with Mark Ellis to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics sent Ben Grieve to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Oakland Athletics sent Ángel Berroa and A. J. Hinch to the Kansas City Royals. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent Cory Lidle to the Oakland Athletics. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent Roberto Hernandez to the Kansas City Royals.
* March 23, 2001: Trenidad Hubbard was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 91 | 71 | .562 | — | 44‍–‍36 | 47‍–‍35 |
| Minnesota Twins | 85 | 77 | .525 | 6 | 47‍–‍34 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 83 | 79 | .512 | 8 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Detroit Tigers | 66 | 96 | .407 | 25 | 37‍–‍44 | 29‍–‍52 |
| Kansas City Royals | 65 | 97 | .401 | 26 | 35‍–‍46 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

2001 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 4–5 | 4–3 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 4–3 | 6–14 | 4–15 | 7–2 | 7–12 | 5–4 | 10–8 |
| Baltimore | 5–4 | — | 9–10 | 3–4 | 1–5 | 4–2 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 5–13 | 2–7 | 1–8 | 10–9 | 2–7 | 7–12 | 6–12 |
| Boston | 3–4 | 10–9 | — | 3–3 | 3–6 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 5–13 | 4–5 | 3–6 | 14–5 | 5–2 | 12–7 | 10–8 |
| Chicago | 3–6 | 4–3 | 3–3 | — | 10–9 | 13–6 | 14–5 | 5–14 | 1–5 | 1–8 | 2–7 | 5–2 | 7–2 | 3–3 | 12–6 |
| Cleveland | 4–5 | 5–1 | 6–3 | 9–10 | — | 13–6 | 11–8 | 14–5 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 2–5 | 5–1 | 5–4 | 2–4 | 7–11 |
| Detroit | 4–5 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 6–13 | 6–13 | — | 8–11 | 4–15 | 4–5 | 1–6 | 2–5 | 4–2 | 8–1 | 2–4 | 10–8 |
| Kansas City | 4–5 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 5–14 | 8–11 | 11–8 | — | 6–13 | 0–6 | 3–6 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 8–10 |
| Minnesota | 6–3 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 14–5 | 5–14 | 15–4 | 13–6 | — | 4–2 | 5–4 | 1–8 | 1–6 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 9–9 |
| New York | 3–4 | 13–5 | 13–5 | 5–1 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 6–0 | 2–4 | — | 3–6 | 3–6 | 13–6 | 3–4 | 11–8 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 14–6 | 7–2 | 5–4 | 8–1 | 3–4 | 6–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 6–3 | — | 9–10 | 7–2 | 9–10 | 6–3 | 12–6 |
| Seattle | 15–4 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 7–2 | 5–2 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 10–9 | — | 7–2 | 15–5 | 6–3 | 12–6 |
| Tampa Bay | 2–7 | 9–10 | 5–14 | 2–5 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 6–1 | 6–13 | 2–7 | 2–7 | — | 4–5 | 9–10 | 10–8 |
| Texas | 12–7 | 7–2 | 2–5 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 1–8 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 4–3 | 10–9 | 5–15 | 5–4 | — | 3–6 | 8–10 |
| Toronto | 4–5 | 12–7 | 7–12 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 5–2 | 8–11 | 3–6 | 3–6 | 10–9 | 6–3 | — | 8–10 |

### Notable transactions

* May 23, 2001: Trenidad Hubbard was released by the Kansas City Royals.
* June 5, 2001: Paul Byrd was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Kansas City Royals for José Santiago.
* June 24, 2001: Brent Mayne was traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Kansas City Royals for Sal Fasano and Mac Suzuki.
* July 31, 2001: Rey Sánchez was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Atlanta Braves for Brad Voyles (minors) and Alejandro Machado (minors).

### Roster
## 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 | Brent Mayne | 51 | 166 | 40 | .241 | 2 | 20 |
| 1B | Mike Sweeney | 147 | 559 | 170 | .304 | 29 | 99 |
| 2B | Carlos Febles | 79 | 292 | 69 | .236 | 8 | 25 |
| SS | Rey Sánchez | 100 | 390 | 118 | .303 | 0 | 28 |
| 3B | Joe Randa | 151 | 581 | 147 | .253 | 13 | 83 |
| LF | Dee Brown | 106 | 380 | 93 | .245 | 7 | 40 |
| CF | Carlos Beltrán | 155 | 617 | 189 | .306 | 24 | 101 |
| RF | Jermaine Dye | 97 | 367 | 100 | .272 | 13 | 47 |
| DH | Raúl Ibañez | 104 | 279 | 78 | .280 | 13 | 54 |

#### 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 |
| Mark Quinn | 118 | 453 | 122 | .269 | 17 | 60 |
| Luis Alicea | 113 | 387 | 106 | .274 | 4 | 32 |
| Dave McCarty | 98 | 200 | 50 | .250 | 7 | 26 |
| Neifi Pérez | 49 | 199 | 48 | .241 | 1 | 12 |
| Héctor Ortiz | 56 | 154 | 38 | .247 | 0 | 11 |
| Gregg Zaun | 39 | 125 | 40 | .320 | 6 | 18 |
| A. J. Hinch | 45 | 121 | 19 | .157 | 6 | 15 |
| Donnie Sadler | 54 | 101 | 13 | .129 | 0 | 2 |
| Endy Chávez | 29 | 77 | 16 | .208 | 0 | 5 |
| Luis Ordaz | 28 | 56 | 14 | .250 | 0 | 4 |
| Ángel Berroa | 15 | 53 | 16 | .302 | 0 | 4 |
| Wilson Delgado | 14 | 25 | 3 | .120 | 0 | 1 |
| Brandon Berger | 6 | 16 | 5 | .313 | 2 | 2 |
| Ken Harvey | 4 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
| Trent Hubbard | 5 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Sal Fasano | 3 | 1 | 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 |
| Jeff Suppan | 34 | 218.1 | 10 | 14 | 4.37 | 120 |
| Chad Durbin | 29 | 179.0 | 9 | 16 | 4.93 | 95 |
| Dan Reichert | 27 | 123.0 | 8 | 8 | 5.63 | 77 |
| Paul Byrd | 16 | 93.1 | 6 | 6 | 4.05 | 49 |
| Chris George | 13 | 74.0 | 4 | 8 | 5.59 | 32 |
| Brian Meadows | 10 | 50.1 | 1 | 6 | 6.97 | 21 |
| Mike MacDougal | 3 | 15.1 | 1 | 1 | 4.70 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Blake Stein | 36 | 131.0 | 7 | 8 | 4.74 | 113 |
| Kris Wilson | 29 | 109.1 | 6 | 5 | 5.19 | 67 |
| Mac Suzuki | 15 | 56.0 | 2 | 5 | 5.30 | 37 |

#### 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 |
| Roberto Hernández | 63 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 4.12 | 46 |
| Jason Grimsley | 73 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3.02 | 61 |
| Doug Henry | 53 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.07 | 57 |
| Cory Bailey | 53 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.48 | 61 |
| Tony Cogan | 39 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5.84 | 17 |
| Jeff Austin | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.54 | 27 |
| José Santiago | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 | 15 |
| Scott Mullen | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 3 |
| Brad Voyles | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 6 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Golden Spikes | Pacific Coast League | John Mizerock |
| AA | Wichita Wranglers | Texas League | Keith Bodie |
| A | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League | Jeff Garber |
| A | Burlington Bees | Midwest League | Joe Szekely |
| A-Short Season | Spokane Indians | Northwest League | Tom Poquette |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Lino Diaz |