# 1997 Kansas City Royals season

The 1997 Kansas City Royals season was the 29th season for the franchise, and their 25th at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals finished fifth in the American League Central with a record of 67 wins and 94 losses and missed the postseason for the 12th consecutive season.

## Offseason

* October 28, 1996: Mike Bovee and Mark Gubicza were traded by the Royals to the Anaheim Angels for Chili Davis.
* 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.
* December 16, 1996: Scott Cooper was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* January 16, 1997: Ryan Thompson signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* January 28, 1997: Melvin Bunch was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Yamil Benítez.
* March 4, 1997: Doug Linton was released by the Royals.
* March 26, 1997: Ryan Thompson was released by the Royals.
* March 26, 1997: Bob Hamelin was released by the Royals.
* March 27, 1997: Michael Tucker and Keith Lockhart were traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jermaine Dye and Jamie Walker.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 75 | .534 | — | 44‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 80 | 81 | .497 | 6 | 45‍–‍36 | 35‍–‍45 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 78 | 83 | .484 | 8 | 47‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Minnesota Twins | 68 | 94 | .420 | 18½ | 35‍–‍46 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Kansas City Royals | 67 | 94 | .416 | 19 | 33‍–‍47 | 34‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1997 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 4–7 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 11–1 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–5 | 4–12 |
| Baltimore | 7–4 | — | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 6–6 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 10–1 | 8–4 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 10–1 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Boston | 5–6 | 7–5 | — | 3–8 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 3–8 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 6–9 |
| Chicago | 5–6 | 6–5 | 8–3 | — | 5–7 | 4–7 | 11–1 | 4–7 | 6–6 | 2–9 | 8–3 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 8–7 |
| Cleveland | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 7–5 | — | 6–5 | 8–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 9–6 |
| Detroit | 6–5 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–4 | 5–6 | — | 6–5 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 2–10 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Kansas City | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 1–11 | 3–8 | 5–6 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–8 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 6–9 |
| Milwaukee | 4–7 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 7–4 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 6–6 | — | 5–7 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 8–7 |
| Minnesota | 7–4 | 1–10 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 3–8 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 3–8 | 7–8 |
| New York | 7–4 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 9–2 | 6–5 | 10–2 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 8–3 | — | 6–5 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 7–5 | 5–10 |
| Oakland | 1–11 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 5–6 | — | 5–7 | 5–7 | 6–5 | 7–9 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 7–5 | — | 8–4 | 8–3 | 7–9 |
| Texas | 4–8 | 1–10 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 7–5 | 4–8 | — | 4–7 | 10–6 |
| Toronto | 5–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 5–7 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 7–4 | — | 4–11 |

### Notable transactions

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

### 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 | Mike Macfarlane | 82 | 257 | 61 | .237 | 8 | 35 |
| 1B | Jeff King | 155 | 543 | 129 | .238 | 28 | 112 |
| 2B | José Offerman | 106 | 424 | 126 | .297 | 2 | 39 |
| SS | Jay Bell | 153 | 573 | 167 | .291 | 21 | 92 |
| 3B | Craig Paquette | 77 | 252 | 58 | .230 | 8 | 33 |
| LF | Bip Roberts | 97 | 346 | 107 | .309 | 1 | 36 |
| CF | Tom Goodwin | 97 | 367 | 100 | .272 | 2 | 22 |
| RF | Jermaine Dye | 75 | 263 | 62 | .236 | 7 | 22 |
| DH | Chili Davis | 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 |
| Johnny Damon | 146 | 472 | 130 | .275 | 8 | 48 |
| Mike Sweeney | 84 | 240 | 58 | .242 | 7 | 31 |
| Yamil Benítez | 53 | 191 | 51 | .267 | 8 | 21 |
| Dean Palmer | 49 | 187 | 52 | .278 | 9 | 31 |
| David Howard | 80 | 162 | 39 | .241 | 1 | 13 |
| Scott Cooper | 75 | 159 | 32 | .201 | 3 | 15 |
| Joe Vitiello | 51 | 130 | 31 | .238 | 5 | 18 |
| Shane Halter | 74 | 123 | 34 | .276 | 2 | 10 |
| Rod Myers | 31 | 101 | 26 | .257 | 2 | 9 |
| Jed Hansen | 34 | 94 | 29 | .309 | 1 | 14 |
| Larry Sutton | 27 | 69 | 20 | .290 | 2 | 8 |
| Sal Fasano | 13 | 38 | 8 | .211 | 1 | 1 |
| Tim Spehr | 17 | 35 | 6 | .171 | 1 | 2 |
| Félix Martínez | 16 | 31 | 7 | .226 | 0 | 3 |
| Jon Nunnally | 13 | 29 | 7 | .241 | 1 | 4 |
| Ryan Long | 6 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 2 |
| Andy Stewart | 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 |
| Kevin Appier | 34 | 235.2 | 9 | 13 | 3.40 | 196 |
| Tim Belcher | 32 | 213.1 | 13 | 12 | 5.02 | 113 |
| José Rosado | 33 | 203.1 | 9 | 12 | 4.69 | 129 |
| Glendon Rusch | 30 | 170.1 | 6 | 9 | 5.50 | 116 |
| Jim Pittsley | 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 |
| Ricky Bones | 21 | 78.1 | 4 | 7 | 5.97 | 36 |
| Chris Haney | 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 |
| Jeff Montgomery | 55 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 3.49 | 48 |
| Jamie Walker | 50 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5.44 | 24 |
| Hipólito Pichardo | 47 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 4.22 | 34 |
| Gregg Olson | 34 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3.02 | 28 |
| Larry Casian | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.06 | 16 |
| Héctor Carrasco | 28 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 5.45 | 30 |
| Randy Veres | 24 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3.31 | 28 |
| Matt Whisenant | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.84 | 16 |
| Brian Bevil | 18 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.61 | 13 |
| Mike Pérez | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.54 | 17 |
| Scott Service | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.76 | 19 |
| Mike Williams | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6.43 | 10 |
| Jason Jacome | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.45 | 10 |
| Mitch Williams | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.80 | 3 |
| José Santiago | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | 1 |
| Jim Converse | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 3 |
| Allen McDill | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 2 |
| Roland de la Maza | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Mike Jirschele |
| AA | Wichita Wranglers | Texas League | Ron Johnson |
| A | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League | John Mizerock |
| A | Lansing Lugnuts | Midwest League | Bob Herold |
| A-Short Season | Spokane Indians | Northwest League | Jeff Garber |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Al Pedrique |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lansing