ARLINGTON, Texas » This is foreign territory for Kila Ka‘aihue.

Sure, the ‘Iolani School product has been in the big leagues before, making his debut with Kansas City in 2008. But he’s never made an opening-day roster before — not until now.

After a 2010 season in which he hit .319 with 24 HRs and 78 RBIs at Triple-A Omaha and was a Pacific Coast League All-Star, expectations were high heading into spring training, and he definitely delivered.

In 22 spring games, Ka‘aihue hit .397 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs, a performance that earned him a spot on the big league roster and in the lineup for the Royals’ March 31 opener with the Angels.

One day later, he was the hero, delivering a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth, a blast that gave Kansas City a huge 2-1 win, its first victory of the season.

"That was another awesome experience. It was a tie ballgame," Ka‘aihue said. "We were fighting them the whole time. Just to get out of there more or less was the best part."

However, the highlights have been hard to come by since for the Royals first baseman.

Through 19 games, he is hitting just .194 with two home runs and six RBIs. One positive has been his defense, as he has only one error in 137 chances.

Royals manager Ned Yost feels he’s about to come around offensively.

"He’s had some really good at-bats here the last week. Yeah, I’ve seen him just dominate in spring training. He’s done it before in the minor leagues," Yost said. "He struggled at the beginning of the year last year when he came up and got going at the end of the year. So, yeah he can do it."

When asked about his struggles at the dish, Ka‘aihue offered a simple explanation.

"Right now, I’m just missing pitches. I think that’s the only thing it comes down to right now," he said. "The swing’s the same. The approach is the same. Pitches that I’m getting to hit, I’m missing them. That’s the straight-up answer that I can give."

Despite his struggles, there hasn’t been any talk of him returning to Triple-A, which is just fine with the 27-year-old first baseman.

"I hope I don’t see any more of the minor leagues. I really want to stay here," Ka‘aihue said. "I’ve just got to keep working hard, keep learning and keep plugging."

Heading into today’s series opener with Cleveland, the Royals are 12-10 and just 1 1/2 games behind the Indians in the American League Central standings, a spot few expected them to be in.

But Ka‘aihue and his teammates always knew what this team was capable of.

"We talk about it all the time. The success that we’re having as a team up here right now isn’t shocking to us at all," he said. "I think in spring training, we all kind of knew that."

Their rationale for expecting such early success is easy to believe.

"We all felt that way because 90 percent of the guys in here have played together. We’ve all won together," Ka‘aihue said. "It’s good to be able to carry that success that we had as a group. Hopefully we can continue to have that success."

One of those former and current teammates is outfielder Alex Gordon, who is glad to see the Hawaii native finally stick in K.C.

"I think it’s a long time coming for him. He’s been successful and put up big numbers," Gordon said. "It’s just about getting an opportunity. It’s well deserved."

But if one thing has impressed the Royals left fielder, it’s the fact that Ka‘aihue never complained about going back and forth between K.C. and Omaha the past few years.

"In a different situation with a different team, maybe he could have come up quicker. Baseball sometimes works like that," Gordon said. "He definitely paid his dues, was patient, never complained, just kept working hard and now he’s up here and here to stay."

Other than making his first opening-day roster, another big source of pride for Ka‘aihue is being one of only a handful of Hawaii natives currently on big league rosters.

"It’s awesome because there’s not a whole lot of us. The reason why I play the game is because of a lot of the previous big league guys that have played before," Ka‘aihue said. "I stay in close contact with a lot of them. It’s a good bloodline."

And he hopes to see younger brother Kala, currently a first baseman with Modesto, Colorado’s High Single-A affiliate, join that group in the future.

"We talk, but we try to stay away from talking about baseball because that’s our job," Ka‘aihue said. "We’ll talk about baseball stuff in the offseason when we’re working out, but that’s about it. Once we leave the field, it’s not a whole lot."

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Steve Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.