The Royals have recalled outfield prospect Drew Waters from Triple-A Omaha and optioned outfielder Nate Eaton to Triple-A in his place, per a team announcement. It’ll be the Major League debut for Waters, whom Kansas City acquired from Atlanta last month (alongside two other minor leaguers) in a trade that sent a Competitive Balance draft selection back to the Braves.
Waters, 23, was a second-round pick back in 2017 and long rated as one of the more promising all-around prospects in the game. The switch-hitter was a consensus top-100 prospect each year from 2019-21, but at the time of the trade sending him to Kansas City, his stock was down a fair bit. Waters had mashed his way through the Double-A level but seen his bat stall out in Triple-A, where he’d slashed .246/.324/.383 in just shy of 800 total plate appearances across parts of three seasons. Of even greater concern was the 30.7% strikeout rate he’d posted in those three Triple-A stints.
The Royals, however, remained enamored of Waters’ skill set and clearly held him in high regard. The day after the trade, Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo touted Waters as a “true center fielder” and “plus defender” with still-developing skills at the plate. All indications based both on Picollo’s comments and on the mere fact that the Royals targeted Waters in that trade was that the club still viewed him as an intriguing prospect and a potential everyday option in center field.
To this point, the Royals have to be thrilled with how Waters has responded to the move. Since joining his new organization, Waters has been on absolute fire in Omaha, raking at a .295/.399/.541 pace with seven home runs, five doubles, a pair of triples and a perfect 13-for-13 showing in stolen bases. It’s just a 31-game, 143-plate appearance sample, but the results are quite encouraging. Waters has also walked at a 14% clip that would be the highest single-season mark of his entire career by a fairly wide margin. Strikeouts are still an issues, as he’s punched out at a bloated 28.7% clip since the trade — actually a slight increase from this year’s 27.1% rate in the Braves organization.
Still, the recent production from Waters has surely restored some of the shine on his name, and he ought to be in line for regular work with the Royals as the season draws to a close. At 25 games under .500 and 16.5 games out of the AL Central lead with the third-worst run differential in MLB (-149), the focus in Kansas City is now on the future rather than on the 2022 season. It’s in the Royals’ interest to get Waters some work at the big league level to evaluate whether he’s ready for a prime role in next season’s outfield or whether he might need further time in the minors (perhaps prompting a short-term outfield addition this winter).
There’s no way for Waters to reach a full year of service time in 2022, so even if he’s in the big leagues for good, the Royals will control him all the way through the 2028 season. He’s also being called up for his debut well past the point at which Super Two status could be achievable, so he won’t reach arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest. Future optional assignments could delay both that arbitration timeline and Waters’ free-agent timeline, of course. Waters only had his contract selected for the first time this past November, meaning he’s in his first minor league option year and will have a pair of minor league options remaining beyond the current season.
Royals are going to be a powerhouse in a few years. They have, by far, the best prospect core in baseball. Loaded is how I would describe them
Disagree on that. Prospect core wise Baltimore is insane and they’re most in AA or higher. Pitching is coming along but DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez, Colton Cowser, Stowers just called up and the #1 prospect in Gunnar Henderson to pair with Adley. Witt Jr and Melendez is a good start with Vinnie also but I don’t think it’s that close.
Realize now you have Camden in your name so hard to tell if you’re serious or not as on the internet sarcasm is hard to catch lol
I’m talking about hitting prospects. Melendez, Witt, Pasquantino, Massey, Pratto, and now Waters. Nobody has that many quality hitting prospects. Only team close is the Guardians
Without a doubt Rutschman is the top young player in baseball right now, but I have not seen them have any other young hitting prospects. Vavra is the only thing close. He’s very good, but I don’t think he’s on the level of the royals prospects
Stowers either didn’t stand out to me or I haven’t seen him yet
The only other prospects that are on par with these Royals prospects that I’ve seen are Alek Thomas, Nolan Jones, Kwan, Oscar Gonzales, Benson
Most teams maybe have 1 of these guys, Royals now have 6
Trust me, Waters is no feather in anyone’s cap. AA doesn’t lose trades.
I’d disagree that Waters doesn’t have value. Some of the shine is obviously off the star, but there’s no reason to think he’s too old to develop into a solid starter for KC. I think Atlanta just didn’t see it happening soon enough since they’re contending, so they swapped him out for depth and draft money.
Very reminiscent of the teams that won back-to-back AL Pennants. Those teams didn’t have great homegrown pitching and really didn’t have great starting pitching but they had a lock down bullpen. I don’t know if these Royals will be able to duplicate that but they should be fun to watch
It could be a matter of Waters not really fitting with the Braves hitting philosophy. It’s not that they thought he was a bust, just that he wasn’t able to have success with their hitting approach
The Royals probably thought he’d work in their system which, so far he has
That’s a good point too, Camden. I can’t fault the Braves position player development, but he might have been one of those guys that just needed a different voice.
This might have been one of those trades where everyone wins. The clubs obviously got what they wanted or they wouldn’t have made the trade. Waters seems to be thriving, too. And if he can play a good CF while just being an average bat, that’s valuable.
Or it could be they had Michael Harris II and Acuña taking care of center and right for the rest of the decade…
Yes, and the Royals have been good at getting guys to buy into their program to improve strikeout rates, which looks like the key to Waters’ development.
It’s not a matter if losing. Waters was blocked.
I’m not impressed with Baltimores system depth. Very top heavy though.
The Royals have the worst front office in MLB. DM is a freak.
Worse than COL?
Arte Moreno would like to have a word with you.
Arte has never met a slugger he couldn’t over pay
Dayton Moore is not only a solid human being, In 8 years he brought two world series back to KC after starting with WalMart quality players…
He moved up to keep JJ in house as the GM… Thats not something you see freaks do.
The D-backs may not compare to KC and Baltimore, but they have quietly rounded up some nice position player prospects that have already arrived – Perdomo, Thomas, McCarthy, Varsho, Rojas – with more on the way – Carroll, Lawler. And the D-backs have some young pitchers on the threshold, as well – Pfaadt, Walston.
☝☝☝ Thats a fact
Never count the chickens ……
I have a hard time believing in prospect hype
Remember when Acuna Waters Pache was going to be the best OF in the game
Royals now have the next Brett Phillips. Hope for better but be prepared for the sequel.
I wish him well! My older son and I met him at Physical therapy and he spoke to my son for about 20 minutes. Very humble guy with tons of potential.
Rooting for the kid, but has to figure out how to stay healthy and not strikeout literally 30-40% of his AB’s
No doubt. Rooting for him, if not with the Braves, at least with KC he’ll get his chance in the show.
Finally, I have been called to serve. Let’s Go!!!!!! So happy your getting called up Drew!!!!!! Braves fans still here with you. Can’t wait to mash that ball tonight!!!!!! Grip me and rip it!!!!!!
This feels like a blunder by AA…
Hypothetically, if he is going to be good, I’m glad he is playing for the Royals and not another powerhouse team like the Dodgers. With that being said, Waters strikes out way too much, so the chances he will become a great player is slim. Besides, Harris made Waters expendable.
1. There’s 3 outfield spots, not 2
2. One good player does not preclude another from being on the same roster. Nor does having 2 (I know you want to scream Acuna too! Right now)
3. Strikeouts are an accepted part of todays game. If he can play an above average CF with even a 750 OPS, he’s worth the league minimum. Probably 10x over. It sounds like the royals think he can do a lot more than that
I get what you were trying to say at the beginning with a bad team v. Playoff rival. I just think the logic points you and many others have been repeating are flawed
He had alot of those with Toronto
A true centerfielder that was called up and starting in RF today. MM is pure genius.
So, you takeout your gold glove centerfielder instead?lol
I’m happy for Drew and I hope he flourishes in K.C.
I always root for highly regarded prospects who falter in their MiLB process. I think it must devastating for such a young person to face all those expectations and then feel the fans turn on them if they don’t stay on the star track.
Good luck Mr Waters.
Smart move by the Royals to see if Waters can translate his Royals minor league statistics into the Majors. Wishing him well!
Royals have excellent young hitting talent. It’s takes time to adjust so gaining valuable experience at the MLB level is huge for a their development. Even if their not productive early or even if they are, knowledge is key for future success.
They obviously made some good tweaks to his approach because his numbers look great post trade. He’s a great athlete. When the braves dealt pache as a centerpiece and got a great return I thought it was genius. This one might come back to bite them a little bit, especially given Ozunas uncertainty long term
He is a talented, streaky hitter that strikes out a ton. When he’s going good, it looks like this. He’s had productive months in his minor league career, just that this one is now separated on his stats page.
You sound like such a hater right now…
We’ll see how the pitcher they got with the Royals pick turns out…
I like the way the Royals are giving chances to their prospects. A bright future awaits them.
Best case, he’s the CF of the future. Worst case, he’s Brett Phillips V2.
The Mets traded a young Amos Otis with another youngster for Joe Foy. Otis would go on to have a nice career, playing CF, winning gold gloves and stealing bases for the Royals to the tune of 42.8 WAR, Foy would play one season for the Mets, one for the Senators and hang up his spikes at 13 WAR.
Would be nice to see Waters put up Amos Otis numbers over the next decade.
So to get waters the royals gave up #35 pick. And you could argue Waters is better than every player A’s acquired from braves for Matt olson. Depending on your view of Shea langeliers. Waters looks more promising than Christian Pache, who may never figure out how to hit and btw is out of milb options next year.
No way Waters is a better prospect than Langeliers. Probably better than everyone else, though.
The Royals received two additional players for the pick.
The fact it was 3 for 1, along with Waters’ rebound of course, is what really sets this up as a likely loss for AA in my eyes
Poor Burt, yes Burt Phillips. He had to get thrown in here. He was originally a Brewer. Played about 10 games. He was one of the guys sent to KC for Cain. Burt, like JBJ of late, can’t hit. That’s bad. They are A+ defenders though. Too bad it’s not football they’re playing.
Actually Phillips came to KC with Jorge Lopez for Mike Moustakas.