2003 Kansas City Royals season

2003  Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Kauffman Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	83–79 (.512)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	David Glass
General managers	Allard Baird
Managers	Tony Peña
Television	KMCI Royals Sports Television Network (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis)
Radio	KMBZ (Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Fred White)
←  2002 Seasons 2004  →

The 2003 Kansas City Royals season was the 35th season of the franchise, and their 31st season at Kauffman Stadium. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League Central, with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses. It was the only winning season for the franchise between 1994 and 2013.

2003 was a hopeful and promising winning season ("We Believe" was the slogan) for the Royals, as they begin the season winning their first 9 games, and the team spent 93 days in first place in the AL Central. But the team faded down the stretch, falling out of first place for the last time on August 31, and were eliminated from playoff contention on September 23.

Offseason

• October 15, 2002: AJ Hinch was released by the Kansas City Royals. ^[1]
• December 18, 2002: Buddy Carlyle was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals. ^[2]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• Michael Tucker – CF
• Joe Randa – 3B
• Mike Sweeney – 1B
• Raúl Ibañez – LF
• Brandon Berger – RF
• Ken Harvey – DH
• Ángel Berroa – SS
• Brent Mayne – C
• Carlos Febles – 2B ^[3]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	90	72	.556	—	48‍–‍33	42‍–‍39
Chicago White Sox	86	76	.531	4	51‍–‍30	35‍–‍46
Kansas City Royals	83	79	.512	7	40‍–‍40	43‍–‍39
Cleveland Indians	68	94	.420	22	38‍–‍43	30‍–‍51
Detroit Tigers	43	119	.265	47	23‍–‍58	20‍–‍61

Record vs. opponents

2003 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2003 v t e
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	1–8	3–6	3–4	6–3	6–1	6–3	5–4	3–6	8–12	8–11	6–3	9–10	2–7	11–7
Baltimore	8–1	—	9–10	2–4	3–3	3–3	3–4	3–4	6–13–1	2–7	4–5	8–11	7–2	8–11	5–13
Boston	6–3	10–9	—	5–4	4–2	8–1	5–1	2–4	9–10	3–4	5–2	12–7	5–4	10–9	11–7
Chicago	4–3	4–2	4–5	—	11–8	11–8	11–8	9–10	4–2	4–5	2–7	3–3	3–4	6–3	10–8
Cleveland	3–6	3–3	2–4	8–11	—	12–7	6–13	9–10	2–5	3–6	3–6	5–2	4–5	2–4	6–12
Detroit	1–6	3–3	1–8	8–11	7–12	—	5–14	4–15	1–5	3–6	1–8	2–4	1–6	2–7	4–14
Kansas City	3–6	4–3	1–5	8–11	13–6	14–5	—	11–8	2–4	2–7	4–5	4–3	7–2	1–5	9–9
Minnesota	4–5	4–3	4–2	10–9	10–9	15–4	8–11	—	0–7	8–1	3–6	6–0	5–4	3–3	10–8
New York	6–3	13–6–1	10–9	2–4	5–2	5–1	4–2	7–0	—	3–6	5–4	14–5	4–5	10–9	13–5
Oakland	12–8	7–2	4–3	5–4	6–3	6–3	7–2	1–8	6–3	—	7–12	6–3	15–4	5–2	9–9
Seattle	11–8	5–4	2–5	7–2	6–3	8–1	5–4	6–3	4–5	12–7	—	4–5	10–10	3–4	10–8
Tampa Bay	3–6	11–8	7–12	3–3	2–5	4–2	3–4	0–6	5–14	3–6	5–4	—	3–6	11–8	3–15
Texas	10–9	2–7	4–5	4–3	5–4	6–1	2–7	4–5	5–4	4–15	10–10	6–3	—	5–4	4–14
Toronto	7–2	11–8	9–10	3–6	4–2	7–2	5–1	3–3	9–10	2–5	4–3	8–11	4–5	—	10–8

Roster

2003 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 31 Paul Abbott 48 Jeremy Affeldt 27,19 Brian Anderson 55 Kevin Appier 53 Miguel Asencio 35 Ryan Bukvich 59 D. J. Carrasco 58 Rick DeHart 55,27,57 Nate Field 32 Chris George 50 Jason Gilfillan 41 Jimmy Gobble 38 Jason Grimsley 40 Runelvys Hernández 52 Jeremy Hill 43,33 Curtis Leskanic 43 Al Levine 25 José Lima 37 Graeme Lloyd 31 Albie Lopez 39 Sean Lowe 54 Mike MacDougal 34 Darrell May 57 Scott Mullen 36 Kyle Snyder 46 Brad Voyles 56 Les Walrond 51 Kris Wilson 49 Jamey Wright		Catchers 26 Mike DiFelice  2 Brent Mayne 11 Tom Prince Infielders 14 Brent Abernathy  4 Ángel Berroa 33 Morgan Burkhart  1 Gookie Dawkins  3 Carlos Febles 28 Ken Harvey  7 Mendy López 23 Julius Matos 19,27 Jarrod Patterson 16 Joe Randa 12 Desi Relaford		Outfielders 15 Carlos Beltrán 30 Brandon Berger  8 Dee Brown  9 David DeJesus 45 Aaron Guiel 18 Raúl Ibañez 25 Rontrez Johnson 24 Michael Tucker 14 Rondell White Designated Hitters 29 Mike Sweeney		Manager  6 Tony Peña Coaches 47 John Cumberland (pitching) 21 Tom Gamboa (first base) 13 John Mizerock (third base) 44 Jeff Pentland (hitting) 17 Luis Silverio (bullpen)

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	113	372	91	.245	6	36
1B	Ken Harvey	135	485	129	.266	13	64
2B	Desi Relaford	141	500	127	.254	8	59
SS	Ángel Berroa	158	567	163	.287	17	73
3B	Joe Randa	131	502	146	.291	16	72
LF	Raúl Ibañez	157	608	179	.294	18	90
CF	Carlos Beltrán	141	521	160	.307	26	100
RF	Aaron Guiel	99	354	98	.277	15	52
DH	Mike Sweeney	108	392	115	.293	16	83

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
Michael Tucker	104	389	102	.262	13	55
Carlos Febles	74	196	46	.235	0	11
Mike Difelice	62	189	48	.254	3	25
Dee Brown	50	132	30	.227	2	14
Mendy López	52	94	26	.277	3	11
Rondell White	22	75	26	.347	4	21
Julius Matos	28	57	15	.263	2	7
Brandon Berger	13	32	7	.219	0	3
Brent Abernathy	10	27	2	.074	0	0
Jarrod Patterson	13	22	4	.182	0	0
Morgan Burkhart	6	15	3	.200	0	1
Tom Prince	8	8	2	.250	0	1
David DeJesus	12	7	2	.286	0	0
Rontrez Johnson	8	3	1	.333	0	0
Travis Dawkins	3	2	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
Darrell May	35	210.0	10	8	3.77	115
Chris George	18	93.2	9	6	7.11	39
Runelvys Hernández	16	91.2	7	5	4.61	48
Kyle Snyder	15	85.1	1	6	5.17	39
José Lima	14	73.1	8	3	4.91	32
Jimmy Gobble	9	52.2	4	5	4.61	31
Brian Anderson	7	49.2	5	1	3.99	15
Miguel Asencio	8	48.1	2	1	5.21	27
Paul Abbott	10	47.2	1	2	5.29	32
Jamey Wright	4	25.1	1	2	4.26	19
Kevin Appier	4	19.0	1	2	4.26	5

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
Jeremy Affeldt	36	126.0	7	6	3.93	98
Kris Wilson	29	72.2	6	3	5.33	42
Brad Voyles	11	31.1	0	2	7.18	24

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
Mike MacDougal	68	3	5	27	4.08	57
Jason Grimsley	76	2	6	0	5.16	58
D.J. Carrasco	50	6	5	2	4.82	57
Sean Lowe	28	1	1	0	6.25	28
Curt Leskanic	27	1	0	2	1.73	22
Nate Field	19	1	1	0	4.15	19
Al Levine	18	0	1	1	2.53	5
Graeme Lloyd	16	0	2	0	10.95	8
Albie Lopez	15	4	2	0	12.71	15
Jason Gilfillan	13	2	0	0	7.71	12
Ryan Bukvich	9	1	0	0	9.58	8
Les Walrond	7	0	2	0	10.13	6
Rick DeHart	4	0	2	0	13.50	1
Scott Mullen	2	0	0	0	16.62	3
Jeremy Hill	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	Pacific Coast League	Mike Jirschele
AA	Wichita Wranglers	Texas League	Keith Bodie
A	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Carolina League	Billy Gardner Jr.
A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Joe Szekely
Rookie	AZL Royals Blue	Arizona League	Kevin Boles
Rookie	AZL Royals Gold	Arizona League	Lloyd Simmons

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Royals Blue ^[4]

Notes

1. "AJ Hinch Stats".
2. "Buddy Carlyle Stats".
3. "2003 Kansas City Royals Statistics".
4. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 2003 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
• 2003 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com