It’s easy to forget that he played in Kansas City. Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order): Jay Bell, Angel Berroa, David Howard, Adalberto Mondesi. If he continues to suffer injuries and plays 100 games a summer, well, maybe Bobby Witt, Jr. If Mondesi can stay healthy, average 175+ hits per year and put up 4-8 WAR seasons for the next 10-12 years, he could get into the HOF conversation. Alan Trammel had 650 hits by age 24, on his way to a career total of 2,365.

Cal Ripken had 431 by age 24, on his way to 3,184. By age 24, Barry Larkin had 326 hits (on his way to a career total of 2,340). Even if he should play to say age 38, he’d still have to average 163 hits per season. To get to 2,500 hits, he’d have to average 207 hits per season, which given his injury history and the fact that it’s just flat-out difficult to get 200 hits in a season, well, that works against him. When you look at the math, if he plays until he’s 35, that’s 11 more seasons. I would think something like 2,500 hits would be a minimum HOF cutoff. His hit total could work against him, as he currently only has 219 big league hits. I think the kid could develop into HOF-caliber - he’s only 24 and already has parts of four seasons under his belt. The Royals haven’t had a Hall of Fame player at the position, though that could change depending on how the career of Adalberto Mondesi progresses. The Royals, like most other positions through the team’s history, have had a couple of very good shortstops and a bunch that were just average.

And some of the greatest players in baseball history were shortstops - Ernie Banks and Honus Wagner come to mind.

In modern times, we have been fortunate to have witnessed some of the best shortstops to ever play the game, guys like Ozzie Smith, Barry Larkin, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Derek Jeter. The shortstop is often considered the point guard of the baseball team. In addition to having an excellent glove, the shortstop must be able to move to his right or left, direct cutoff throw traffic and have a strong arm. The position is physically and mentally demanding. Considered by most, including myself, to be the toughest position to play.

Royals shortstop