KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Opening Day at the K marks the Royals first chance to work their way back to the playoffs again this season.
Royals broadcaster and author Joel Goldberg sat down with KSHB 41News Anchor Lindsay Shively to talk about his new book and look ahead to the Royals 2025 season.
The team is coming off of their first playoff run in almost a decade and marking 10 years since their 2015 World Series win.
“In the case of the Royals, this isn't just a hope and a wish. This is a belief that we're as good as anybody in baseball. We have arguably the best player on the planet,” Goldberg said, referring to Bobby Witt Jr.
“We have some of the best pitching and I don't know that those guys are sitting there saying, ‘This feels like 2015’ because only one of them was here then, and that was Salvador Perez. Some of them were just teenage kids at that point or younger, which is crazy. But I think that all of us around town feel some of that similar energy for people that remember ‘14 and ’15.”
“Those of us that were here remember that it felt like something different. That's what I'm seeing and feeling right now around town at the grocery stores, before the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, after the Chiefs, and people were talking about it regardless all winter long. So it feels different to me, but for them, I think they're just focused."
Goldberg thinks we may see the team’s top prospect, Jac Caglianone, on the roster at some point this season. While he’s not on the roster for opening day, the 6th overall pick drafted just last summer did get an invite to the Royals Spring Training where he hit 3 home runs.
“He is the next big superstar to make it to Kansas City, and that could happen as soon as this year. And when he does, people are going to be raving and oohing and aahing over the massive power that this kid has.”
Goldberg also believes Royals fans can’t take for granted the chance to witness a superstar now in Bobby Witt Jr.
“We have still in very early makings of one of the greatest superstars in the game, and he's already being labeled as that, and he does it very quietly. So I would encourage everybody just to embrace this and look at it through the lens of you might be watching the start of history.”
Goldberg’s book is called “Small Ball Big Dreams”.
“Doing the little things right, that’s small ball in baseball,” said Goldberg. “And I thought, I think that we're all looking to play small ball in real life too. What are the little things that make us successful in whatever our everyday jobs are. I'm lucky enough that I get to cover the everyday jobs of these baseball players and also do a lot of motivational speaking, where I meet a lot of leaders. They all do the little things, right? And they happen to be talented, but it's all those little things. So that's what this book is about, and really the dream stories of adversity and grit and how they got there.
Goldberg says you’ll find stories from Royals players like Bobby Witt Jr. and Freddy Fermin but also from people outside of baseball like Tech N9ne.
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