MLB Network host and analyst Adnan Virk recently visited the Kansas City Royals Spring Training site in Arizona.
I had a chance to catch up with Adnan over Zoom about what he saw, and about what expectations he (and Royals fans) have for the team in 2025.
"it's really tough to go from 56 wins to all of a sudden be a playoff team," Adnan told me. "Lo and behold, as we all know, the Royals did that. (Seth) Lugo was a revelation, Michael Walker panned out and (Cole) Ragans has been a star. I found the vibe this year was different in talking to the guys. The fact that they had a taste of that playoff experience. They're that much hungrier now to go forward."
Of course one of the big reasons that Kansas City has the league's attention is Bobby Witt Jr., who finished second in the American League MVP voting in 2024.
Adnan told me that was well-deserved, and Witt is only getting better.
"You ask 10 different people, and you could still make a case that Bobby Witt should have won last year, especially with his overall game," Adnan says. "It's wild to think of what Bobby Witt's ceiling could be after just two seasons."
But Royals fans are also closely watching another young player this season—Jac Caglianone, the team's top pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.
Adnan told me that even though he didn't see him actually play in Arizona, the young player still made an impression.
"And he walked up to us, and I was like, 'Wow,'" Adnan said with a laugh. "This guy's ridiculous. I mean, he is just all muscle, I mean the face of a model. I said, 'Geez, I hope this kid's a star, because the women are going to go wild in Kansas City.'"
Adnan told me that he asked another one of his colleagues from MLB Network about the chances Caglianone makes it to the major leauges this season.
"He said, 'I think he's gonna be with this club,'" Adnan said. "'If I had to predict,' he said, 'At some point in the season he'll be in left field for the Royals.'"
All of that adds up to legitimate optimism in Kansas City, which Adnan says is justified for every fan in blue.
"I don't think you're going to have three Central division teams making the playoffs again," Adnan said.
"But yeah, realistically, if I'm a KC fan, do I say, 'Do I have aspirations of a division? But at the very least a playoff team?' I would say yes, I think that's reasonable," Adnan said.
Fans can catch Adnan hosting MLB Network's show MLB Tonight throughout the season.
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