Eric Hosmer Debuts: A Sign of Things to Come for the Kansas City Royals

Through 34 games last season, the Kansas City Royals posted an 11-23 record.  

This year, through as many games, the club sits at 18-16, so there has already been plenty of reasons for the Royals faithful to feel good about their team in 2011.  

This weekend, Kansas City fans received one more reason to be hopeful for the future when 21-year-old prospect Eric Hosmer made his major league debut.

In a farm system that is widely considered the best in baseball, Hosmer has stood above the rest. This season at AAA Omaha, he was batting .439 with an 1.107 OPS through 26 games. At some point before the 2011 season is over, the Royals will likely see a few more of their young guns called up, including Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain, but Kansas City took its first step into the future on Friday with Eric Hosmer in the lineup.

Hosmer's debut was fairly uneventful, as he went 0-2 with two strikeouts, but he did collect two walks and a stolen base. By the end of the weekend, Hosmer picked up his first big league hit (on Saturday), his first extra base hit (a double on Sunday) and his first run scored and RBI (both on Sunday).  

He was not exactly turning the baseball world upside down with his performance, but I doubt anyone in Kansas City is complaining, especially after Hosmer's solid if unspectacular 2-4 outing on Sunday.

When Jason Heyward made his debut for the Braves in 2010, he made a rather loud entrance as he hit a home run in his very first major league at-bat. Eric Hosmer's debut may have been a little more discreet as far as the national media were concerned, but that does not mean it was any less important, especially for an organization like the Kansas City Royals.

For years, the Kansas City has been in a rebuilding stage, always looking to a brighter future.

The team has seen great players come and go (Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran and Zack Greinke to name a few) without being able to build a contender around them, but that finally appears to be changing.  

Kansas City is no longer just hanging their hopes on one supremely talented youngster.

Already with the big club and doing well are players like Billy Butler, Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur (all of whom are 27 or younger). They also have some talented young arms in Aaron Crow, Joakim Soria and Luke Hochevar (also all 27 or under). This does not even take into consideration the loads of talent, besides Eric Hosmer, the Royals have been hoarding in their minor league system.

I am not about to claim that Eric Hosmer is going to be the savior of the Kansas City Royals—he does not have to be. He does, however, have the potential to be very good, maybe even great.  

That's why, when Eric Hosmer trotted out of the dugout at Kauffman Stadium for the first time, he was not just stepping into his first major league game, he was taking the next step into the Royals seemingly bright future.