Yost hopes shuffled lineup will make for a more confident Moose

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday that Mike Moustakas would hit second for Kansas City in 2015.

Moustakas, a career .236 hitter, has never started in the No. 2 hole in his four-year major league career. He appeared there once in 2012 as a late-game replacement.

Yost said Moustakas' solid spring (.333/.394/.517 with 11 RBIs), coupled with a potential confidence boost from hitting at the top, makes him "a perfect fit for that two-hole."

Moustakas said hitting second would be "a fun challenge."

"The one thing I am is a baseball player," he said. "In that No. 2 hole, you gotta be a baseball player and adapt to circumstances, and I think I do a pretty good job of that."

That means Alex Gordon, who had hit second for most of the spring, will drop in the order, likely to sixth or seventh.

"When you're looking at the spring that Moose had, and you're looking at Alex and you're looking at Moose, Alex is going to be the same guy," Yost said. "But this little confidence boost, to go along with all the hard work and the effort that he put forth, (is) something that could carry (Moustakas) through the first half of the season, offensively."

FOX Sports Kansas City coverage of the White Sox-Royals game begins at 2 p.m. Monday with Royals Live.

Kansas City will have an unorthodox lineup to start the season, with Alcides Escobar leading off, Moustakas hitting second, Lorenzo Cain in the No. 3 hole and Eric Hosmer following him. Escobar's career on-base percentage is .299 and Moustakas' is .290. Cain and Hosmer, meanwhile, combined for 14 home runs in 2014.

Yost said moving Moustakas to the second spot reminded him of 2011, when he shifted Gordon to the No. 3 hole and watched as Gordon slashed .303/.376/.502 with 23 home runs. Gordon spent the first month and a half hitting third before leading off for the majority of the season.

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