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The Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals were a minor league baseball franchise in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League from 1971–1978, 1982–1983 and 1985–2002. The club was owned and operated by the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. The GCL Royals played games at
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
-based minor league and
spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...
facilities located in Sarasota (through 1987), Baseball City Stadium in
Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
(1988–1992; 1999–2002) and Fort Myers (1993–1998). From 1979–1981, the Royals operated two GCL teams, the Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals Blue and Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals Gold, to accommodate a surplus of teenaged players. In 1974, Kansas City also fielded a separate Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals Academy team for members of its experimental Baseball Academy. The Academy team played alongside the GCL Royals; finishing 35–16 in the GCL standings that season, 4½ games ahead of the 29–19 GCL Royals, but the Royals Academy lost the league pennant by percentage points to the GCL Cubs. In 2003, when the Royals moved their spring training operations to
Surprise, Arizona Surprise is a city in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. The population was 143,148 at the 2020 census, up from 117,517 in 2010 and just 30,848 in 2000. The city has a Aquatics Center and Maricopa County's northwest regional libra ...
, they simultaneously transferred their Rookie-level affiliate to the Arizona League.


Season-by-season


Notable alumni

* Jeremy Affeldt * Carlos Beltrán *
David Cone David Brian Cone (born January 2, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, and current color commentator for the New York Yankees on the YES Network and WPIX as well as for ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball.Johnny Damon *
Chad Durbin Chad Griffin Durbin (born December 3, 1977), is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, and Detroit Tigers of the American League (AL), and the Ari ...
* Carlos Febles *
Rich Gale Richard Blackwell Gale (born January 19, 1954) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played with four teams between and . Listed at and , Gale batted and threw right-handed. During 1992 and 1993, he served as pitching c ...
*
Jimmy Gobble Billy James Gobble (born July 19, 1981) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who last played in the Colorado Rockies organization. High school career Gobble attended John S. Battle High School in Bristol, Virginia and started four years on t ...
* Tom Gordon *
Mark Gubicza Mark Steven Gubicza (; born August 14, 1962), nicknamed "Gubie," is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sportscaster. Gubicza played for 14 major league seasons with the Kansas City Royals (1984–96) and Anaheim Angels (1997) ...
* Atlee Hammaker * Clint Hurdle * Ramón Martínez * Ken Phelps * Hipólito Pichardo *
Glendon Rusch Glendon James Rusch (; born November 7, 1974) is a left-handed former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies. Early life Rusch pla ...
* Mike Sweeney * Rodney Williams * Willie Wilson


See also

* Arizona League Royals Baseball teams established in 1971 Baseball teams disestablished in 2003 Defunct Florida Complex League teams Kansas City Royals minor league affiliates
Royals Royals may refer to: Entertainment * The Royals (band), a Jamaican reggae vocal group * The Royals, original name of The Midnighters * "Royals" (song), a 2013 single by Lorde * ''The Royals'' (TV series), a 2015 E! network drama series * ''The ...
1971 establishments in Florida 2003 disestablishments in Florida Sports in Sarasota, Florida Baseball in Fort Myers, Florida Sports in Polk County, Florida {{Florida-baseball-team-stub