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Royals Place Hunter Renfroe On Injured List

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June 12: Further testing revealed that there is no fracture in Renfroe’s foot, tweets Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star. The issue appears to be a bone bruise. Renfroe will not require surgery.

June 11: The Royals announced they’ve placed Hunter Renfroe on the 10-day injured list. The veteran outfielder fractured his left big toe in last night’s loss to the Yankees. Kansas City also placed Adam Frazier on the bereavement list, recalling Nick Pratto and Drew Waters to take the vacated active roster spots.

Renfroe went for imaging today that’ll determine his recovery timeline, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (X link via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). He’ll at least need a week and a half before he’s ready to return to MLB action. Renfroe had finally begun to find a groove, picking up seven hits (including two doubles and homers apiece) in six games this month. The 32-year-old still has a subpar .200/.273/.365 line over 187 plate appearances thanks to a frigid start to the season.

Despite the mediocre production, Renfroe has started 49 of the team’s 67 games in right field. Waters draws in there tonight against Marcus Stroman. The Royals haven’t gotten much out of any of their outfielders. Kyle Isbel (.219/.263/.338) and MJ Melendez (.162/.225/.341) have produced even less offensively than Renfroe has mustered.

The 25-year-old Waters is up for the first time this season. He has solid numbers for Triple-A Omaha, where he’s hitting .277/.350/.484 with seven homers through 214 plate appearances. That’s with a slightly elevated 26.6% strikeout rate, a problem for Waters throughout his career. The former second-round pick has punched out in nearly a third of his 446 MLB plate appearances. He owns a .231/.306/.402 line at the highest level.

Kansas City is 11 games over .500 and in possession of the American League’s second Wild Card spot despite the outfield. General manager J.J. Picollo acknowledged last week that the team could look outside the organization before the trade deadline. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Taylor Ward, Tommy Pham, Brent Rooker and Jesse Winker are among the likeliest outfielders to move by the end of next month.

AL Central Notes: Royals, Cease, Tigers

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The Royals’ Opening Day roster has begun to come into focus, as the Royals recently optioned first baseman Nick Pratto, outfielder Drew Waters, and catcher Austin Nola to the minor leagues. Those positional cuts from camp helped to clarify the club’s bench mix, as manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) yesterday that infielder Nick Loftin and outfielder Dairon Blanco have both made the club’s Opening Day roster. Blanco will slot into a reserve outfielder role behind MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, Hunter Renfroe, and Nelson Velazquez. Meanwhile, Loftin will step into a bench role previously ticketed for veteran Adam Frazier, who is set to become the club’s Opening Day second baseman with Michael Massey expected to begin the season on the injured list due to lower back tightness.

It’s an unfortunate development for Massey, who celebrated his 26th birthday earlier this week. The infielder was the club’s everyday option at the keystone last year and performed well on defense but struggled with the bat throughout the season. The youngster showed signs of life in the second half, however, slashing a respectable .250/.285/.458 with 11 home runs in 229 trips to the plate over his final 60 games in 2023. That display left him in line to receive the lion’s share of playing time at second once again this year even after the Royals added Frazier and Garrett Hampson in free agency. Now that Massey is set to begin the season on the shelf, however, Frazier will have the opportunity to play his way into a larger role early in the season. The 32-year-old veteran has been a roughly league average bat consistently throughout his career, with a .269/.331/.393 slash across eight seasons in the big leagues, including a .240/.300/.396 showing with the Orioles last year.

As for the trio of recent cuts, none of them are especially surprising. Pratto appeared unlikely to have a role with the big league club to open the season thanks to first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino’s return from labrum surgery and Nelson Velazquez’s emergence as a credible slugger at DH. Waters, similarly, is the odd man out in the club’s crowded outfield mix. Both former top prospects will open the season at Triple-A, providing them an opportunity to receive regular reps they couldn’t get with the big league Royals. Nola starting the season in the minors is hardly a surprise, either, as he joined the club on a split contract that was seemingly designed to allow him to be a backup to Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin at the Triple-A level.

More from around the AL Central…

  • The White Sox recently dealt right-hander Dylan Cease after months of rumors and speculation, shipping him to the Padres in exchange for a prospect package headlined by Drew Thorpe. Club GM Chris Getz recently spoke to Scott Merkin of MLB.com about the trade and noted that San Diego was one of two clubs who made “significant offers,” with Merkin reporting that the Rangers were the second place finisher for Cease’s services. Getz also made clear that the sides did not engage in extension negotiations amid the winter’s trade rumors, adding that while the club would have “loved” to keep Cease in the fold long term, he felt such an arrangement “wasn’t realistic.” That’s somewhat understandable, as Chicago suffered a 101-loss season last year and appears to have a long way to go before contending again, even in a relatively weak AL Central division. Given that reality, it would’ve been surprising to see the club commit to the sort of significant outlay that would have been required to retain the runner-up for the 2022 AL Cy Young award.
  • Tigers youngster Sawyer Gipson-Long once appeared likely to compete with other youngsters such as Casey Mize, Reese Olson, and Matt Manning for a role in the club’s starting rotation alongside Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Kenta Maeda. Unfortunately for Gipson-Long, he’s been nursing a left groin strain throughout camp that, as noted by Evan Woodbery of the Detroit Free Press, will lead to him opening the season on the injured list. Gipson-Long, who the club acquired at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for right-hander Michael Fulmer, made his big league debut late in the season last year and impressed during four starts in the majors. In 20 innings of work, the right-hander posted a 2.70 ERA with a 3.16 FIP while striking out an excellent 31.7% of batters faced. With Mize and Olson now set to start the season in the rotation, Gipson-Long figures to head to Triple-A Toledo once healthy, where he’ll provide Detroit with quality rotation depth alongside Matt Manning and wait for an opportunity in the big leagues.

AL Notes: Royals, Astros, McKay

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The Royals are entering the 2024 season with elevated expectations after the club spent more than $100MM in free agency this winter on top of a massive 11-year extension for franchise shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. With that influx of free agent talent comes increased competition for spots on the club’s Opening Day roster. That excess of talent is particularly clear in the outfield, where manager Matt Quatraro recently indicated to reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that the club’s logjam is likely to result in the club carrying five outfielders on its roster to open the 2024 campaign.

Kansas City signed veteran outfield Hunter Renfroe to be the club’s regular right fielder, and Rogers suggests that glove-first center fielder and former top catching prospect MJ Melendez are the favorites to receive regular playing time on the grass alongside him. That leaves two spots on the bench available for a group that includes Drew Waters, Nelson Velazquez, and Dairon Blanco. A former top prospect in the Braves farm system, Waters was shipped to the Royals midseason back in 2022 and has since slashed a decent .231/.306/.402 in 130 games with the club. Velazquez, meanwhile, joined the club at last year’s trade deadline in a deal with the Cubs and displayed prodigious power down the stretch with 14 home runs in just 40 games. Blanco, 31 next month, is by far the oldest of the trio but performed well in a part-time role last season, going 24-for-29 on the basepaths while slashing .258/.324/.452 in 69 games that saw him spend time in all three outfield spots.

With the club expecting to carry five outfielders on the roster to open the season, that significantly limits the paths to an Opening Day roster spot for other bench options. Veterans Adam Frazier and Garrett Hampson both signed major league deals this past winter and appear locked into utility roles on the bench, and with Melendez now a full-time outfielder the Royals will have to enter the season with Freddy Fermin on the roster as the backup to veteran backstop Salvador Perez. That would seemingly leave little room on the club’s roster for Nick Pratto, the club’s first-round pick in the 2017 draft and a former top prospect. The first baseman has 144 big league games under his belt but has yet to establish himself in the majors, slashing just .216/.295/.364 in a combined 527 trips to the plate during that time.

More from around the American League…

  • Astros manager Joe Espada announced to reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) that right-handers Justin Verlander and J.P. France will throw bullpen sessions tomorrow. Espada indicated last week that Verlander’s next bullpen would determine not only whether or not he would then progress to live hitting but also his readiness for Opening Day. If Verlander begins the season on the shelf, it’s possible his spot in the rotation could go to France, assuming that the 28-year-old avoids an injured list stint of his own. The righty impressed with a 3.83 ERA in 136 1/3 innings of work with the big league club last year, almost entirely out of the starting rotation. Should Verlander be healthy enough to make his Opening Day start, France would likely be left to compete for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation with the likes of Ronel Blanco and Brandon Bielak.
  • Rays southpaw Brendan McKay made his first professional appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery late in the 2022 season today, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times spoke to the lefty following the appearance. Per Topkin, McKay expressed satisfaction with his progress, indicating that his curveball is “getting better” while his fastball, which Topkin adds sat at 90 while touching 91, is “in a good spot” to gain more velocity going forward. McKay typically sat at 94 with his heater when he last pitched in the majors in 2019, though the former top prospect and fourth-overall pick of the 2017 draft has dealt with both Tommy John surgery and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome since then. Once a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport, it’s easy to imagine McKay impacting the club’s pitching staff at some point this season if he can remain healthy.

Royals Claim Bubba Thompson, Option Edward Olivares

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The Kansas City Royals announced that they have claimed Bubba Thompson off waivers from the Texas Rangers. He has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha. In other roster news, the Royals reinstated Drew Waters from the bereavement list, optioning Edward Olivares to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

The Rangers DFA’d Thompson on Friday to make room for J.P. Martínez on the 40-man roster. Thompson, a first-round pick in the 2017 draft, had been playing for the Triple-A Round Rock Express following a poor start to the season at the MLB level. In 37 games with Texas, he hit .170 with a 41 wRC+ and -0.1 FanGraphs WAR. He was demoted at the end of May.

Thompson has yet to live up to his former top prospect status, but still just 25 years old, he is far from a bust. He looked like a legitimate bench piece last season, batting .265, stealing 18 bases, and finishing with a 77 wRC+. Moreover, despite his disappointing slash line this year, he increased his walk rate, decreased his strikeout rate, and showed off a little more power. He continued to demonstrate his improved plate discipline at Round Rock, compiling 19 walks (and two HBP) compared to only 28 strikeouts in 149 trips to the plate.

Thompson should have a better chance to make his way back to the majors in Kansas City, but he’ll need to continue to show improvement at Triple-A. If he’s able to take steps forward at the plate, he could be a useful contributor since his speed and defense give him a solid floor. The Royals already have two young, right-handed-hitting outfielders on the big league roster, Samad Taylor and Nelson Velázquez, in addition to the switch-hitting Waters. Olivares and Nate Eaton are also waiting in the wings at Omaha.

After a promising cup of coffee last season, Waters got off to a slow start in 2023. An oblique injury kept him on the shelf until late May, and he was hitting .239/.293/.354 with a 76 wRC+ entering the All-Star break. Since then, however, he has a 107 wRC+ in 23 games. His 11 RBI in that time are tied for fourth on the Royals, while his 12 runs scored are tied for fifth. He returns to the team after missing the minimum of three days on the bereavement list.

Olivares had a mini breakout in 2022, finishing with a 110 wRC+ in 53 games. However, he pulled that off thanks to a career-high .344 batting average on balls in play. His BABIP has fallen below league average this season, and his triple slash line numbers have dropped in accordance – despite the fact that he’s striking out less often and hitting for a little more power. Meanwhile, Velázquez, whom the Royals promoted on Thursday to replace Waters on the roster, has hit a home run in each of his last two games. He’ll get the chance to stick with the big league club for at least a little longer.

The Most Alarming Aspect Of Royals’ Disappointing Season

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The Royals are much closer to the worst team in baseball than a playoff spot. While Kansas City wasn’t expected to make the postseason, there’s no question the organization envisioned better results than they had in the first half.

There are a number of reasons for the club’s underperformance. The most concerning theme for the organization has been the down years and/or injury issues for most of their top young talent. Kansas City expected to be further along in the rebuild by now. Instead, a lot of the players they’ve envisioned as a developing core have plateaued or gone backwards.

That’s not unanimously true. Bobby Witt Jr. has stolen 27 bases, connected on 14 home runs and taken a huge step defensively. Even with a modest .300 on-base percentage, he looks like the franchise shortstop the Royals wanted when selecting him with the 2nd overall pick in 2019. Rookie Maikel Garcia has taken over third base with plus exit velocities and strong defense.

Aside from the left side of the infield, the Royals’ young players have mostly underwhelmed, however.

Melendez, a 2nd-round selection in 2017, emerged as one of the sport’s top prospects with a 41-homer showing in the upper minors two years ago. The left-handed hitter connected on 18 longballs with a roughly average .217/.313/.393 line as a rookie in 2022. His power production has fallen off this year; he carries a meager .206/.289/.333 mark with six homers in 346 trips to the plate.

While Melendez walks a fair amount, he offsets that with big strikeout totals. He has gone down on strikes nearly 30% of the time this season. That puts a lot of pressure on him to hit for power, no small feat in one of the sport’s most pitcher-friendly home parks. Melendez has a huge 93 MPH average exit velocity and is making hard contact (95+ MPH) on over half his batted balls. There’s clearly power upside in there. He’s not in a great environment to maximize it and is striking out too frequently though.

Were Melendez catching every day, that offensive profile would be more acceptable. With Salvador Perez behind the dish, the Royals have deployed the youngster mostly in the corner outfield. Well below-average offense at a bat-first position means he’s playing at a worse than replacement level rate.

The Royals invested heavily in college pitching in the 2018 draft. Singer was the only member of the group who put together mid-rotation results, seemingly breaking out with a 3.23 ERA over 27 appearances last season. He’s gone in the opposite direction this year.

Over 18 starts, the Florida product is allowing 5.80 earned runs per nine across 94 2/3 innings. His strikeouts and grounders are both at career-worst levels. Singer’s strikeout rate has dropped over six percentage points to a modest 18.1% clip. His swinging strikes are down to a below-average 8.5% of his offerings.

Singer’s arsenal has backed up. His sinker is averaging 92.3 MPH, down a tick and a half from last year’s level. His career-long struggle to find a changeup is still showing up in his results against left-handed hitters. Southpaws have a .292/.373/.489 line in 250 trips to the plate this year.

Lynch, the 34th overall selection in the aforementioned college-heavy ’18 draft, has started 50 games in his MLB career. The 6’6″ southpaw has yet to find much success, posting a 5.10 ERA over parts of three seasons. His 4.18 mark through eight starts is a personal low, though he’s paired it with a few alarming underlying indicators.

Most notably, Lynch’s velocity has taken a step back. He’s averaging 92.7 MPH on his heater, down from the 94 MPH range in which he sat in 2021-22. A Spring Training rotator cuff strain could explain that dip, although Lynch’s velocity has fallen even as he’s gotten further removed from the season-opening injured list stint. He averaged a season-low 91.6 MPH on his four-seam during his final start headed into the All-Star Break.

With the drop in speed has come a corresponding hit to his strikeouts. The Virginia product has fanned under 16% of opposing hitters. It’s the lowest rate of his career, down nearly five points from last season. Lynch’s 11.7% swinging strike percentage is still solid, so he’s not losing whiffs on a per-pitch basis, but he’s had a tougher time finishing off at-bats.

Pasquantino’s disappointing year has been more about health than performance. His .247/.324/.437 line was down markedly from a huge .295/.383/.450 rookie showing, but even the diminished version of Pasquantino was one of Kansas City’s top hitters. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old tore the labrum in his right shoulder and underwent surgery last month. His season is finished after just 61 games.

Pasquantino’s injury has opened regular playing time for the 24-year-old Pratto. Like Melendez, the lefty-hitting first baseman emerged as a top prospect based on huge power production in the upper minors. His profile also comes with significant swing-and-miss concerns, which have resurfaced at the MLB level.

Pratto is hitting .246/.331/.388 with six homers in a career-high 257 plate appearances. That’s better than the bulk of the Kansas City lineup, league average offense by measure of wRC+. Yet he’s needed a .395 average on balls in play to keep that production respectable. He’s striking out at a 37.7% clip, the highest rate among players with 250+ trips to the plate. If he’s to be a long-term regular, especially at a bat-first position, he’ll need to put the ball in play more frequently.

By the time the Royals acquired Waters from the Braves almost exactly one year ago, the outfielder’s stock was well down from its peak level. The switch-hitter had been a borderline Top 50 prospect at one point in the Atlanta farm system, but mounting strikeout issues in the upper minors raised questions about his offense. The Royals were buying low to some extent, though they still relinquished the 35th overall pick in last year’s draft (which Atlanta subsequently used on high school righty JR Ritchie) for Waters.

Kansas City wouldn’t have given up a pick that high if they didn’t believe Waters still had a chance to be an everyday player. An offseason trade of Michael A. Taylor cleared a path to center field reps. Waters’ hopes of starting on Opening Day were dashed by a left oblique strain that cost him the first two months of the season.

Since returning, the 24-year-old has put up a .239/.293/.354 line over 37 games. He’s striking out an untenable 37.4% rate. Perhaps there’s some rust to be shaken off after the extended absence, but Waters’ early results aren’t offering much hope he’s on the verge of a breakthrough. Whether he’ll make enough contact to be a regular is still in question.

With Waters opening the season on the shelf, the 26-year-old Isbel got the Opening Day nod in center field. He has just a .210/.258/.355 line in 37 contests. Isbel is making the most contact of his career but not hitting many line drives, and his overall production closely matches last year’s .211/.264/.340 slash. The former 3rd-round selection has been viewed by most evaluators as a fringe regular, although he still ranked among K.C.’s top ten prospects at Baseball America each season from 2019-22. He looks better suited for fourth/fifth outfield duty than a starting role.

Massey, 25, showed some promise with a .243/.307/.376 line as a rookie late last season. He got the Opening Day nod at second base this year but hasn’t seized the job. The left-handed hitter has a .220/.277/.320 mark with four homers over 220 plate appearances. Opposing pitchers have punched him out 28.2% of the time. Massey is hitting the ball reasonably hard but chasing too many pitches outside the strike zone to post a decent on-base mark.

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Without much progress from most of their young players, the Royals haven’t had many silver linings. A 26-65 record would be an obvious disappointment regardless of how it was happening, but it’s made more so by the scarcity of controllable players asserting themselves as key pieces for the future. Aside from Witt and arguably Garcia, none of Kansas City’s early-mid 20s talent is staking a firm claim to an important role for next season.

The  primary focus for the next few weeks will be which veteran players get moved at the deadline, with closer Scott Barlow standing out as their top trade chip. Once August 1 passes, the final couple months will be about evaluation. Can any of their currently scuffling controllable players turn things around to head into the offseason with positive momentum to build upon?

Royals Notes: Isbel, Waters, Melendez

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Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel left yesterday’s game against the Orioles with a left hamstring strain, as noted by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers. The severity of Isbel’s strain isn’t currently known, but it seems likely he’ll miss at least some time with the injury.

Isbel, was a third round pick by the Royals in the 2018 draft. He made his debut in 2021 with a solid 28-game cup of coffee, slashing .276/.337/.434 in 83 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of 108. Paired with his excellent center field defense, that slash line left him poised to potentially be an above average regular for Kansas City going forward. Unfortunately, Isbel has yet to deliver on that promise, as his bat has taken a turn for the worse since the start of the 2022 season. Over the past two seasons, Isbel has slashed just .210/.260/.343 in 374 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of just 65.

Isbel’s hamstring injury may put any attempts to get things back on track on hold for the 26-year-old outfielder. Despite his meager offensive performance, however, the injury still figures to be a considerable blow to the Royals if Isbel misses time. His glove in center field is still among the best available, and the club is lacking in center field depth. Outfielder Drew Waters, who opened the 2023 campaign on the injured list due to an oblique strain, seemed to be nearing a return, but recently suffered a setback and has yet to head out for a rehab assignment, per Rogers. That likely leaves Jackie Bradley Jr. to draw starts in center in the event that Isbel misses time, though Bradley has been even worse on offense this year, clocking in at 70% worse than league average by measure of wRC+ in 51 plate appearances.

The 24-year-old Waters was a top prospect in the Braves organization for years after they selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft, but was traded to Kansas City midway through the 2022 season following the breakout of Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, which left Waters largely blocked in Atlanta. Waters ultimately got into 32 games for the Royals last year, and was impressive during that time, with a .240/.324/.479 slash line that was good for a 125 wRC+. Whenever Waters is ready to return, he seems likely to become a fixture of the club’s outfield mix, which currently includes Edward Olivares and Hunter Dozier in addition to Isbel and Bradley.

Also part of the outfield mix is MJ Melendez, the club’s second round pick in the 2017 draft and a former top prospect. Still just 24 years old, Melendez is primarily a catcher by trade, but has been blocked at the big league level by the presence of franchise catcher Salvador Perez. They split time behind the plate in 2022, with Melendez also seeing time in the outfield and both players often sliding into the DH slot to ensure both received sufficient playing time. That system worked fairly well last year, as Melendez ultimately got into 129 games for the Royals, slashing .217/.313/.393 for a roughly league average wRC+ of 99.

Melendez has caught just 68 2/3 innings so far this season, however, and manager Matt Quatraro has indicated that Melendez will be working exclusively in the outfield for the time being following the club’s decision to call up Freddy Fermin to act as the backup catcher. Per Quatraro, the decision was made to help Melendez focus on his offense, which has taken a turn for the worse so far in the 2023 campaign. In 118 plate appearances this season, Melendez has slashed just .200/.280/.371 with a well below average wRC+ of 76 and a concerning 33.9% strikeout rate. Melendez getting right at the plate would provide a huge boost to the Royals going forward, as the club ranks bottom five in the majors in terms of runs scored so far this season.

Drew Waters Out For Six Weeks With Oblique Strain

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Royals outfielder Drew Waters will be out of action for six weeks due a left oblique strain, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Given that there’s about five weeks until Opening Day, it seems as though Waters is destined to miss the start of the season.

Waters, 24, was a second round draft pick of Atlanta and was considered one of the best prospects in the game not too long ago. Baseball America had him up in the #32 slot on their top 100 list going into 2021, with reports highlighting his defense, speed, throwing arm and ability to hit from both sides of the plate. The biggest red flag on his profile, however, was a propensity for strikeouts that has carried into the upper levels of the minors as well as the big leagues.

Waters spent 2021 in Triple-A and struck out in 30.9% of his plate appearances, finishing with a .240/.329/.381 batting line and 94 wRC+. He had some similar results in the first half of 2022 before getting flipped to the Royals alongside two other minor leaguers for a Competitive Balance draft pick. The organizational switch seemed to suit Waters, as he finished the season strong. He hit .295/.399/.541 in Omaha before getting promoted to the majors in August, then hit .240/.324/.479 in the bigs for a wRC+ of 125. Those strong numbers aside, the strikeout issues still lingered. He was punched out in 28.7% of his trips to the plate with Omaha and 36.7% with the Royals.

Even though the strikeouts are still a work in progress, it seems the club believes in Waters enough to give him a lengthy audition. The trade of Michael A. Taylor to the Twins freed up center field and seemingly moved Waters to the top of the depth chart there. He’s considered a strong defender and could prove to be a useful player out there even without strong offense, similar to Taylor, though an above-average bat would obviously be ideal.

It seems that the audition will have to be delayed, at least for a short time. If the provided timeline holds, then Waters won’t miss too much of the season, but oblique injuries are often tricky and recoveries from them don’t always go exactly as planned. For as long as he’s out, the club will have to come up with a plan to cover the position. Manager Matt Quatraro says that Kyle Isbel will “get every opportunity to grab that spot,” per Rogers. Isbel has hit just .226/.281/.361 in the majors thus far but has a much stronger line of .268/.357/.447 in Triple-A over the past two years. He also has strong defensive numbers so far and could be a very useful contributor if he hits at the major league level.

With Isbel likely moving into center for a while, that will free up some playing time in the corners for others. Edward Olivares is a straightforward outfielder in the mix, while there are also many infielders who could see time on the grass, such as Nate Eaton, Hunter Dozier, Samad Taylor and Nick Pratto. There’s also catcher MJ Melendez, who has seen some time in the outfield with Salvador Perez taking the bulk of playing time behind the plate. A non-roster wild card will be Franmil Reyes, who recently signed a minor league deal with the club. He hasn’t played much outfield in recent years but the Waters injury could potentially free up some at-bats for him in the designated hitter slot.

Royals Promote Drew Waters

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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.

Latest On Royals’ Outfield Outlook

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Yesterday’s acquisition of Drew Waters gives the Royals a potential near-term option to evaluate in the outfield, and general manager J.J. Picollo spoke highly of Waters’ future when chatting with the Kansas City beat in the wake of the trade (link via Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star). Picollo called Waters a “plus defender” and a “true center fielder,” praising the switch-hitter’s speed and overall upside — even with Waters “still refining some skills” at the plate.

That’s a rather favorable characterization of a player who’s whiffed in 27.1% of his plate appearances during his third season at the Triple-A level, although to Waters’ credit, that strikeout rate is down considerably from his 36.1% mark in Triple-A in 2019 and from last year’s 30.9% pace. Struggles in the upper minors notwithstanding, Waters is still just 23 years old, has long been graded as a plus runner and potential asset in the outfield grass, and isn’t too far removed from a monster 2019 showing in Double-A. There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about Waters as a player, even if his prospect star has dimmed in recent years.

The broader-reaching question for Royals fans — and for fans of teams seeking outfield upgrades around the league — is just what this trade will mean for the Royals’ outfield moving forward. The Waters acquisition isn’t likely to have much of a bearing on Andrew Benintendi’s future; as a productive and affordable free-agent-to-be on a last-place team, Benintendi was one of the likeliest trade candidates in all of baseball with or without Waters around. (We ranked him No. 2 on last week’s Top 50 trade candidate list.)

As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald explored last month, however, Benintendi isn’t the only trade candidate in the Royals’ outfield. Center fielder Michael A. Taylor is having the finest season of his big league career, and he’s playing on an affordable two-year, $9MM contract. That makes it tempting for the Royals to keep him around into 2023, but Taylor’s greatest asset is his glove in center, and Picollo made clear the Royals view Waters as a plus option in center as well. There’s plenty of room for both Waters and Taylor to slot into the same outfield — especially assuming an eventual Benintendi deal — but it’s still of some note that the Royals would seemingly feel confident that Waters could step into Taylor’s shoes in the event of a trade, at least from a defensive standpoint.

Taylor has indeed drawn interest from other clubs, with MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweeting last night that the Yankees are among those who’ve considered him in their search for outfield upgrades. Taylor, hitting .264/.340/.385 and once again playing Gold Glove-caliber defense in center, would immediately become the best defensive outfielder on the Yankees’ roster (or on the roster of the majority of MLB teams). New York has been playing Aaron Judge in center field more than ever before, but Taylor could conceivably push Judge back to right field if and when the Yankees inevitably move on from Joey Gallo.

The Yankees are also known to be interested in Benintendi, and Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reported Sunday evening that the two sides have had “ongoing” talks regarding Benintendi for the past couple weeks. The asking price is believed to be high at present, Ackert adds. While the Yankees have now been linked to a pair of Kansas City outfielders, the Royals will surely receive interest in both Benintendi and Taylor from other clubs, just as New York will explore outfield options with other teams.

Further trades from the Royals aren’t necessarily a given. Picollo suggested that the team does not “feel the extreme need that we have to move any players,” though it’d be surprising if Benintendi, at the very least, didn’t change hands over the next three weeks. However, even if the Royals stand completely pat the rest of the way, Waters should get an earnest look in the big leagues before long, particularly with Kyle Isbel struggling and Edward Olivares only playing a limited role this year.

Royals Acquire Drew Waters From Braves For Draft Pick

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The Royals have made their second deal of the past week, acquiring former top outfield prospect Drew Waters, minor league righty Andrew Hoffmann and minor league corner infielder CJ Alexander from the Braves in exchange for their Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 35 overall). Both teams have announced the trade.

The 15 selections in the two Competitive Balance rounds — Round A ranges from Nos.33-39, Round B from picks 67-74 — are the only picks eligible to be traded each year’s draft and can only be traded once (meaning the Braves cannot subsequently flip the pick to another team). The No. 35 pick that Atlanta is receiving comes with a slot value of $2,202,100, all of which will be added to the Braves’ league-allotted bonus pool of $8,022,200. That’ll bump the Braves from the 19th-largest draft pool to the 10th-largest (barring any additional trades).

The added pick and financial might will give the Braves some extra means of replenishing the farm after surrendering four prospects to acquire Matt Olson this offseason (to say nothing of the handful of trades made at each of the past few deadlines). Between those deals, low draft selections the past few years (due to strong regular-season performances) and the international free-agent penalties incurred by the former front office regime, the once-vaunted Braves farm system has taken a hit.

Drew Waters

Waters, 23, ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects from 2019-21 but has seen his stock fall precipitously in recent seasons as he’s struggled against Triple-A pitching. Waters is currently in his third season with Triple-A Gwinnett, but his .246/.305/.393 batting line isn’t an improvement over the pedestrian output he’s recorded there in both 2019 and 2021. Overall, in 788 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Waters is a .246/.324/.383 hitter. Those struggles are reflected in the fact that the former second-round pick, who was once seen as a key building block for the Braves organization, is now instead part of a three-player package that will net Atlanta a draft pick that’s just six places higher than Waters was selected a half-decade ago.

With Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II set to hold down two-thirds of the Atlanta outfield for the future — plus veterans Eddie Rosario, Marcell Ozuna and Guillermo Heredia all signed or controlled beyond the current season, there wasn’t much immediate room for Waters to make an impact on the big league outfield anyhow. Braves fans might be disheartened when thinking about what Waters might’ve fetched in a trade had he been moved a year or two ago, but the team did manage to net some value for the former Futures Game participant.

From the Royals’ vantage point, the long-term outfield picture is far less certain, so there’s good reason to take a chance on getting Waters back on track. Kansas City has been working to put a winning product on the field for the past couple seasons, and while the results haven’t been there yet, Waters provides more immediate potential to help the team than whomever would have been tabbed with that No. 35 overall pick. Waters posted a huge .319/.366/.481 batting line in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting back in 2019, when he was one of the youngest players in the league. Baseball America and MLB.com both ranked him within the sport’s top 40 overall prospects in consecutive offseasons.

With Andrew Benintendi all but certain to be traded and center fielder Michael A. Taylor a candidate to go as well — he’s signed affordably through 2023 — the Royals will soon have some outfield vacancies. If veteran Whit Merrifield is finally moved at this year’s deadline, that’d represent another subtraction from the outfield corps.

The organizational hope has been that 25-year-old Kyle Isbel can claim a long-term spot in the outfield mix, but he’s currently hitting just .216/.248/.328. Twenty-six-year-old Edward Olivares has performed well in a much more limited role. Generally speaking, though, the Royals are thin on outfield prospects. College pitching has been a focus of their drafts during their recent rebuild, and while they have standout young options at shortstop/third base (Bobby Witt Jr.), catcher (MJ Melendez) and first base/designated hitter (Vinnie Pasquantino, Nick Pratto), there’s no ballyhooed outfielder knocking down the door to the Majors for the Royals at the moment. Waters, clearly, is something of a project, but he’ll give the Royals an immediate option to join that young core if he can indeed benefit from a change of scenery.

Also heading to the Royals are Hoffmann, a 22-year-old righty selected in the 12th round of last summer’s draft, and Alexander, a 25-year-old who’s shown power, speed and concerning on-base struggles while playing against younger competition in Double-A.

Hoffmann ranked 16th among Braves prospects at FanGraphs and 23rd at MLB.com, where scouting reports on the 6’5″ righty peg him as a high-probability back-of-the-rotation piece — a rather notable step forward for a player just a year removed from being selected so late in the draft. So far in 2022, Hoffmann has posted terrific numbers in Class-A, making 15 starts with a 2.36 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 46.3% ground-ball rate. Hoffmann’s fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range — below-average by today’s standards — and he relies heavily on above-average command to help mitigate the lack of a power primary offering.

Alexander, meanwhile, isn’t as highly regarded — as one would expect for a player who is in his third trip through Double-A despite the fact that he’ll turn 26 this month. A 20th-round pick in 2018, Alexander has dramatically reduced his strikeout rate in 2022, as it’s currently at 21.8% after sitting at 32% in 2019-21. He’s slugged 15 homers and gone 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts through 289 plate appearances this year, but Alexander has also walked at a meager 4.8% rate. Overall, his .258/.294/.465 isn’t particularly exciting, but he gives Kansas City yet another lefty corner infield bat, as he’s capable of playing first base as well.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the trade (Twitter links).

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