The Royals have called up top prospect Raul Mondesi in order to add him to their World Series roster, the club announced. To clear 40-man roster space, Kansas City designated righty Joba Chamberlain for assignment.
It’s not a traditional top-prospect promotion, as Mondesi — a consensus top-fifty prospect in all of baseball — will make his first MLB appearance in the World Series. While he won’t pick up any service time for that, and figures to return to the minors to start 2016, the 20-year-old does now reach the 40-man roster earlier than was necessary.
Mondesi, whose father was a prominent big leaguer, signed with Kansas City as an international free agent and saw his first action in Rookie ball in 2012 at just 16 years of age. He spent all of this season playing at Double-A, putting up a .243/.279/.372 batting line and swiping 19 bases.
Presumably, the switch-hitting middle infielder will be used mostly for running and defense in his high-leverage debut series. He’ll take the spot of Terrance Gore, the club’s usual post-season burner, while also providing another infield glove.
Meanwhile, Chamberlain will hit the free agent market a bit early, though the move was largely procedural. The 30-year-old joined Kansas City late in the season, allowing five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He did not appear in the post-season. Chamberlain will probably be looking for a make-good minor league deal this offseason after a rough overall campaign.
Especially if its only a minor league deal, I think Joba could be an interesting project pitcher for the Pirates, especially if they can get him back up to his upper 40s, low 50s GB%
I was kind of thinking along those same lines. With the Bucs losing Soria and possibly Melancon this would be a low risk /high reward type signing… If in fact it was a minor league deal.
Pretty smart move I might not have thought of. With games coming up in an NL park, positional eligibility of your bench guys matters a lot more. With Gore they’d have one functional infielder (Morales doesn’t count) and three outfielders off the bench. Now it’s 2 and 2 with Mondesi.
Crafty crafty, Royals.
Zobrist versatility negates the need for an extra IF unless Escobar is being subbed for which is hard to find a circumstance of that happening. I don’t think having a guy make his MLB debut in the world series is crafty either. Gore and Dyson complimented each other well Gore was a very effective weapon I don’t know why they are losing that in two large ballparks.
Ben Zobrist is the starting second baseman so I’m not sure how he negates the need for an extra infielder. If you move him to third or something, you still need someone to play second. What he DOES is negate the need for the extra OUTFIELDER.
Which is Christian Colon’s job two bench IF’s are not needed. Mondesi is essentially a wasted roster spot unless they are going to pinch run a rookie which is stupid even for Ned Yost standards.
Mondesi could feasibly fill in at second with Zobrist moving to a corner outfield spot, no? Not ideal, but could work.
I don’t really see a purpose for Zobrist playing the OF at all Dyson is the defensive replacement for the OF. I don’t see a scenario where Gordon and Cain are both removed from the game. Which would still leave them with Rios,Dyson and Orlando. The Royals just need a back up 2B which is Colon. They are giving up one of the closest things to a guaranteed steal for some guy who has never played at the MLB level.
With double switches being a big part of National League-style play, it is extremely easy to see, possibly in an extra inning game not unlike last night, where both Gordon and Cain are removed from the game. Or possibly, someone gets injured or is already hobbled a little bit. This is a smart move because there is so much on the line for the smart people making it.
“positional eligibility”
I can tell you’re a fantasy baseball player. Haha
I didn’t mean it in the fantasy sense, I mean literal ability to play a certain position 😛
Pretty awesome to make your MLB debut in a World Series game. Guessing that’s pretty rare.
It’s more than rare. It has never happened before. The really weird thing is that it could have happened twice this year but Matt Reynolds was replaced by Juan Uribe on the Mets WS roster.
Another potential star entering in on the biggest stage…
This move makes no sense during the World Series – maybe after.
Makes no sense!
Ben has his 3rd child on the way, she is suppose to have the child 3 days after ws. Mondesi would become the back up if zobrist leaves to be with his wife. There is no exemptions on the roster spot, there for royals would be playing with 24 instead of 25
Can’t wait to see how his swing compares to his father.
I’d like to see the Pirates sign Joba to a minor league deal this offseason. Maybe Searage can fix his Hr/FB ratio?