Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas Running out of Time to Reach Superstar Potential

They are no longer players in their early 20s with plenty of time on their side.

They are far too many plate appearances into their careers to be called young prospects, reminding everyone to practice patience.

Neither of these things is true anymore for Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. Because of that, each player’s ceiling has dropped from where it was just a couple of years ago.

But if this core group of Kansas City Royals is going to be more than a one-hit wonder, Hosmer and Moustakas are going to have to live up to their once-ballyhooed superstar potential and reach for those lowered ceilings in 2015.

Both players were part of the reason the Royals came within one swing of winning last year’s World Series. After all, Hosmer hit a clutch triple in the Wild Card Game, drove in 12 runs in 15 games and had a .983 OPS during the postseason. And Moustakas hit five home runs and played such outstanding defense that the team decided to make one of his iconic catches into one of the cooler designs in bobblehead history.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

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We hope you flipped for yesterday’s #RoyalsTweetPeek giveaway! Get your Commemorative Moose Bobble on 6/20. pic.twitter.com/4NRFTiXwSo

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) January 25, 2015"

But those feats came in small sample sizes easily trumped by a season’s worth of slumps, nagging injuries and overall disappointments. More so, each man’s exciting postseason performances are dimmed by years of being average to below-average offensive contributors.

Moustakas and Hosmer were drafted in consecutive seasons: Moustakas as the second overall pick in 2007, and Hosmer third overall the year after. Nabbing both ahead of names like Madison Bumgarner, Jason Heyward and Buster Posey had the Royals and their fans believing Moustakas at third base and Hosmer at first would be figurative and literal cornerstones of the franchise’s rebuild.

Seven and six years later, respectively, neither has been.

Moustakas, 26, has been in the big leagues for four seasons and hit 20 homers and drove in 73 run in his first full year. But for his career, he has a .290 OBP and 82 OPS-plus.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

Both categories have been in significant decline over the past two seasons as the left-handed hitter has faced more defensive shifts, according to ESPN.com's David Schoenfield, and regressed against left-handed pitching. He was even sent to the minors last season during a prolonged slump to start the year.

His saving grace has been his solid defense at third.

Making his situation more frustrating, Moustakas has had stellar spring trainings in each of the last two seasons, so another good one should not give the team or fans too much hope for a turnaround.

Manager Ned Yost told KSBH Kansas City’s Frank Boal earlier this month.

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I just knew there was going to come a point and a time when he was going to get it together and help us do something special. There were times where two years ago and the year after that where people were like, ‘Why are you playing this kid? Send him to the minors.’

When you’re in [a losing] situation, you want to give these young players as many tough at-bats and put them in as many tough situations as [you] can instead of pinch hitting for a guy or sending him to the minors. Let them work it out at the big league level so when you get to a point when you can win a championship, these kids have been through it all.

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The thing is, the Royals are not looking to be in a losing situation anymore. They are defending a pennant, and if they hope to stay that competitive, Moustakas must help the cause.

As must Hosmer, whose lack of consistency has been a problem for him since breaking into the big leagues in 2011—also Moustakas’ first year. Regardless of his struggles, Hosmer, 25, narrowly avoided an arbitration hearing this year and signed a two-year, $13.9 million contract.

“That’s why we all hire representation,” Hosmer told The Kansas City Star’s Andy McCullough. “So we don’t have to sit in that room and hear how bad we are.”

Fortunately for Hosmer, he does not have to put on a designer suit and sit across a polished oak table from his organization’s executives to hear how disappointing he has been.

Last year, somewhat hampered by a hand injury, Hosmer went for nine home runs and 58 RBI in 503 plate appearances. Both numbers were an unexpected regression.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

During his rookie season in 2011, Hosmer hit 19 homers and had a 118 OPS-plus. The year after, his OPS-plus dropped 37 points. He bounced back in 2013 to hit 17 homers and post another 118 OPS-plus, only to see that drop to 98 last year.

Hosmer said he has added 10 pounds in the offseason, but that extra weight does not matter if he still can’t consistently handle the bat well from April through September—and hopefully October.

“I’ve always felt all along that Moose and Hos are All-Star caliber-type players,” Yost told KSBH Kansas City. “I’ve never wavered from that.”

However, there has not been a single All-Star appearance for the duo. With runs at a premium across the game, and especially in Kansas City where the team lost its ace, that has to change. Or, at the very least, Hosmer and Moustakas have to be good enough in the first half to be considered All-Star snubs by the time the Midsummer Classic rolls around.

By this point in their careers, Moustakas and Hosmer were supposed to be stacked back-to-back in the middle of the Royals lineup, maturing into a feared duo. They have not. Hosmer is not feared and Moustakas is still trying to break out of the bottom third of the lineup in their fifth major league seasons.

Meanwhile, the Royals enter spring training needing each to have breakthrough seasons if they plan to contend again in 2015. This year is now superstar-or-bust for Hosmer and Moustakas.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.