Kansas City Officials Propose Royals’ Stadium Plan
The Royals have spent a few years trying to secure public funding towards a new stadium. Those efforts seem closer to reality. Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas announced this afternoon that his office has proposed an ordinance towards a $1.9 billion investment plan for a new stadium and surrounding infrastructure in the Washington Square Park area in downtown Kansas City. Sam McDowell and Kacen Bayless of The Kansas City Star first reported the news in a column which those in the area will want to read in full.
The proposal would authorize roughly $600MM in city funding towards the project. That’s independent of whatever money would come from the state. Last summer, Missouri passed a law that allows the state to fund up to 50% of major stadium construction projects.
That was geared not only towards the Royals but also the NFL’s Chiefs, who have sought a move out of Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs ultimately found what they consider a better deal with Kansas lawmakers. They announced in December they’ll proceed with plans to move over the state border in 2031 on a $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.
Today’s news makes it seem there’s a decent chance the Royals will remain in Kansas City, Missouri. However, this is not any kind of binding arrangement. It’d still need approval from the City Council, to say nothing of an agreement from the Royals themselves.
The idea would be for the Royals to commit to a 30-year lease beginning in 2030. The team’s lease at Kauffman Stadium runs through 2030, but the mayor’s office evidently hopes to have the new stadium ready for play a year in advance. He told reporters this evening the hope is for construction to begin early in 2027.
The team has not formally weighed in on the terms. Owner John Sherman has generally voiced support for a downtown ballpark. The mayor tells The K.C. Star that this proposal was the result of “hours and hours of extensive discussion” with the team. Even if the Royals are on board with the city’s plans, the state’s contributions would still need to be sorted out. Notably, this proposal does not include plans for a public vote. In April 2024, Jackson County voters shot down a sales tax measure to fund Royals/Chiefs stadium projects via referendum.
The Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium since 1973. It’s the fifth-oldest active venue in MLB behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, and Angel Stadium.
Royals Activate Michael Massey From IL, Option Nick Loftin
Second baseman Michael Massey is back with the Royals after missing the first three series of the year with a calf strain. The 28-year-old went down with the injury during MLB Spring Training in early March, but it was deemed minor at the time. Massey ultimately needed just three games at Triple-A to get back into playing shape. Nick Loftin was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
Massey got off to a miserable start as Kansas City’s primary second baseman last season, posting a .479 OPS into early June. He hit the IL with an ankle sprain on June 10. Massey didn’t have an everyday job when he returned, but he made the most of limited opportunities. The lefty swinger slashed .375/.412/.484 in 21 games over the final five weeks of the season.
Jonathan India has handled the majority of reps at second base for Kansas City. After getting a taste of the outfielder in his first year with the club, the former Red is back on the dirt on a more regular basis, with trade acquisition Isaac Collins manning left field. Massey could factor in at the keystone against right-handed pitching, though it’s not an obvious pairing.
India has an identical 104 wRC+ against righties and lefties for his career, so he’s unlikely to slip into a short-side platoon role. Massey might be a slight upgrade on defense. India posted -2 Defensive Runs Saved at second base in 2025, which was actually his best mark since 2021. Massey posted 2 DRS in 495 innings at the position last season, though he hadn’t been a positive with the glove since his rookie year in 2022.
Loftin broke camp with the team following the Massey IL placement. He and Tyler Tolbert were locked in a battle with Drew Waters for the final bench spots. Waters was designated for assignment two days before the season opener. With Massey healthy, it’ll be Loftin heading back to the minors. He started a pair of games at second base and one in left field. Loftin managed a pair of hits in nine at-bats. This is his final minor league option year.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Injury Notes: Eflin, Kirk, Cleavinger, Falter
Orioles righty Zach Eflin didn’t travel with the team to Pittsburgh. He’s on the 15-day injured list due to an elbow issue, and manager Craig Albernaz told reporters prior to today’s series opener against the Pirates that Eflin is headed for a second opinion with orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Eflin exited his first start of the season in the fourth inning due to elbow discomfort. The O’s sent him for imaging and placed him on the 15-day injured list the following day. Albernaz did not disclose the findings of the original MRI.
It’s an ominous scenario for the Orioles and for Eflin, who returned to Baltimore on a one-year, $10MM deal after undergoing back surgery in August. The 31-year-old righty (32 next week) wound up making it back from that surgery in time for Opening Day but now has a separate injury issue threatening his ability to contribute. Eflin was terrific with the Rays and O’s from 2023-24, pitching to a combined 3.54 ERA in 343 innings across the first two seasons of a three-year, $40MM deal originally signed with Tampa Bay. He was rocked for a 5.93 ERA in 14 starts last season while trying to pitch through lat and back injuries.
A few more injury situations of particular note from around the league…
- The Blue Jays are awaiting x-ray results on catcher Alejandro Kirk, writes Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. The Toronto backstop left today’s loss to the White Sox in the bottom of the tenth with a left thumb injury. An Austin Hays foul tip struck Kirk awkwardly in his glove hand, and he left the game with trainers. Tyler Heineman came off the bench to finish the game (and showed some rust on a throwing error that allowed the tying run to score with two outs). Brandon Valenzuela is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Skipper John Schneider indicated he’d get his first major league call if Kirk misses time.
- Rays lefty Garrett Cleavinger landed on the 15-day injured list this morning due to tightness in his right calf, per the team. Right-hander Hunter Bigge was recalled from Triple-A Durham in his place. It certainly doesn’t sound like a serious injury, but any absence for Cleavinger is notable for Tampa Bay. Though he’s not a household name, the 31-year-old southpaw pitched to a 3.04 earned run average with a 30% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate in 133 1/3 innings from 2023-25. He’s emerged as a key late-inning arm for skipper Kevin Cash, totaling six saves and 36 holds over the past two seasons.
- The Royals are also down a lefty reliever, as they placed swingman Bailey Falter on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation. Luinder Avila is up from Triple-A and will start the first game of tomorrow’s doubleheader against Milwaukee. (Avila would have started tonight before the series opener was scrapped by weather.) Anne Rogers of MLB.com relays that Falter received an injection to treat valgus extension overload and will be shut down from throwing for a few days. The southpaw missed the final five weeks last season with biceps inflammation and has been tagged for five runs over 3 1/3 innings during his first two appearances.
Royals Place Carlos Estévez On Injured List
The Royals announced that right-hander Carlos Estévez has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 29th, with a left foot contusion. Right-hander Steven Cruz has been recalled as the corresponding move.
Estévez has made one appearance in the season so far and it was painful, in more ways than one. He was hit by a comebacker off the bat of Michael Harris II, as seen in this video from MLB.com. He stayed in the game and then gave up a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith. The next day, the righty had his foot in a boot, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
After a few days of evaluating the injury, the Royals have decided to put him on the shelf. They have backdated the IL move by the three-day maximum, which is allowed since Estévez didn’t pitch in the interim.
The IL placement might be about giving Estévez a reset, as much as anything. In the wake of that unfortunate outing against Atlanta, the Royals were considering moving Estévez out of the closer’s role. His velocity has been worryingly low this year. As of 2024, he was averaging almost 97 miles per hour with his four-seamer. That dropped below 96 mph last year as his strikeout rate also dipped by a few points. During spring training, he was below 90 mph. He ticked up in the game against Atlanta but only to 91.2.
Now that he’s on the IL, Estévez can heal up his foot and then spend some time trying to figure out a solution to his diminished stuff. A benefit of the IL placement is that he could do some tinkering in the minors. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, he can’t be optioned without his consent. But he can be sent on a minor league rehab assignment, which can last as long as 30 days. While Estévez is out, the Royals will likely give the save opportunities to Lucas Erceg, while guys like Matt Strahm and John Schreiber pitch in setup situations.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Royals Considering Temporary Role Change For Carlos Estevez
Carlos Estevez‘s 2026 season has started in about as rough a fashion as possible, as the Royals closer was charged with six runs (including Dominic Smith‘s walkoff grand slam) in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Braves. If the blown save wasn’t painful enough in a figurative sense, Michael Harris II also hit a hard comebacker on Saturday that deflected off Estevez’s left ankle, leaving Estevez with a contusion.
X-rays were negative on Estevez’s ankle, though he was wearing a walking boot in the clubhouse today and is considered day-to-day as the Royals continue to evaluate his health. Kansas City has an off-day Tuesday but then has a game on each of the first 12 days of April, so the right-hander wouldn’t get much benefit from the schedule if a 15-day injured list stint is required to get him fully healed up.
The first order of business is to make sure Estevez is healthy, though manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including the Kansas City Star’s Jaylon Thompson and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that the Royals could potentially move Estevez out of the closer’s job until he is entirely right. Beyond the ankle issue, Estevez’s velocity has been down both in Spring Training and in his regular season debut.
The decision to make a change at closer “will be more based on what we see, whether that velo is coming,” Quatraro said. “I mean, we’re not averse to putting him in a lower-leverage situation. We feel good about the rest of the options that we have, too. So I’m not going to say he wouldn’t do it, but I also think it would be probably smarter for us to try to build him a little bit in lower leverage first.”
A very hard thrower for most of his career, Estevez’s four-seamer velocity has gone from 97.5mph in 2022 to 97.1mph in 2023, 96.8mph in 2024, and then 95.9mph in 2025. The drop from 2024 to 2025 was the largest and perhaps the most concerning, even though Estevez still ranked within the 76th percentile of all pitchers in velocity in 2025.
On Saturday, however, Estevez averaged 91.2mph on the 15 four-seamers he threw against Atlanta. Even this modest number was up from the 89-90mph Estevez averaged over five Spring Training innings, Rogers noted. Obviously this was just one outing, and even Estevez’s spring work has the caveat of some time missed due to the World Baseball Classic — the reliever threw just one inning of work in one game for the Dominican Republic’s team.
It is also noteworthy that Estevez took a while to ramp up last spring and into the regular season as well, before delivering strong bottom-line numbers (2.45 ERA and 42 saves) in his first year with the Royals. His 4.43 SIERA was almost two full runs higher than his actual ERA, as Estevez benefited from a .234 BABIP to overwrite below-average strikeout and walk rates.
As he entered the final guaranteed season of his two-year, $22MM deal with the Royals, Estevez seemingly still held a firm hold on the closer’s job. Whatever role change could be in mind may just be until Estevez both has his velocity back, and has corrected some mechanical issues Quatraro says the staff has detected.
In terms of fill-in closers, Lucas Erceg might be the most logical candidate to get the call in the ninth inning, or K.C. could adopt more of a committee approach. Erceg, Matt Strahm, Alex Lange, or others could all get some save opportunities as the situation warrants, for however long it takes for Estevez to get on track. Estevez would still get regular usage in his lower-leverage role, as Quatraro said “this is the best practice to get out there in a game. So if we can get him 30 pitches in a game, you know, two innings or something like that to get those reps going and his body moving.”
Royals Outright Drew Waters To Triple-A
The Royals announced that outfielder Drew Waters has been outrighted to Triple-A Omaha after clearing waivers. Waters was designated for assignment earlier this week, as since he is out of minor league options, Kansas City first had to expose Waters to waivers before sending him to Triple-A and removing him from the 40-man roster.
A former top-100 prospect during his time in the Braves’ farm system, Waters’ stock slipped after he had trouble hitting Triple-A pitching. In July 2022, Waters was one of three prospects sent to K.C. in exchange for the 35th overall pick in the 2022 draft (the Royals’ Competitive Balance Round A selection). Atlanta used that pick to select right-hander JR Ritchie, now a highly-touted prospect in his own right who should be making his MLB debut at some point in 2026.
Waters’ change of scenery woke up his bat at the Triple-A level, as he batted much better in Omaha than he did with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett. Waters also got his first call to the majors post-trade and hit .240/.324/.479 over his first 109 plate appearances in the Show, creating some hope that he would be part of Kansas City’s regular outfield mix in 2023.
Unfortunately for both Waters and the Royals, he has hit only .233/.296/.349 over 575 PA since Opening Day 2023. He might have received less playing time if it wasn’t for the Royals’ near-total lack of production from their outfielders as a whole over the last few years, so Waters kept getting chances.
Waters has less than five years of MLB service time and this is the first time he has been outrighted, so he didn’t have the ability to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency. He can now choose to become a free agent if outrighted in the future, though the first step for Waters will be earning another selection back onto the Royals’ active roster. That opportunity might not arise unless an injury hits the current K.C. outfield, and even if Waters is selected as a replacement, he’ll face the DFA/waivers/outright carousel familiar to all out-of-options players whenever the Royals opt to send him back to Triple-A.
Royals Designate Drew Waters For Assignment
The Royals designated outfielder Drew Waters for assignment as they finalized their Opening Day roster this afternoon. He’s out of options and did not make the team. Kansas City filled the open 40-man roster spot by selecting the contract of righty reliever Eli Morgan, though he was optioned to Triple-A Omaha and will not break camp.
Kansas City placed three players on the injured list. Reliever James McArthur (recovery from 2025 elbow surgery) and swingman Stephen Kolek (left oblique strain) go on the 15-day IL. Second baseman Michael Massey (left calf strain) hits the 10-day injured list. Those placements are retroactive to March 22. Massey was the only borderline case of the three. His absence means infielder Nick Loftin and center fielder Tyler Tolbert join Lane Thomas and Starling Marte on the season-opening bench.
Waters, a former second-round pick of the Braves, has played parts of four seasons with Kansas City. The 27-year-old has a .234/.300/.369 slash line while striking out 31% of the time in just under 700 career plate appearances. He batted .188 with one home run across 16 games this spring. Waters is an average runner who can play all three outfield spots. His defensive grades in center field have been fine but unexceptional, not enough to overcome the limited production at the plate.
Tolbert also has a modest offensive ceiling, but he’s a plus athlete who’s better suited to make an impact as a defensive replacement or pinch runner. He also has a couple minor league options remaining, so the Royals could send him or Loftin down once Massey is healthy. The Royals will trade Waters or, more likely, run him through waivers within the next five days.
Morgan signed a minor league deal in January. The 29-year-old had a strong camp, tossing 10 1/3 innings of one-run ball with 12 strikeouts. Morgan doesn’t throw hard but has an excellent changeup that helped him find success early in his career with the Guardians. His declining strikeout rate led the Guards to trade him to the Cubs last year. Morgan was rocked over seven appearances before going down with an elbow impingement that knocked him out for the remainder of the season. The Cubs non-tendered him in November.
Kansas City didn’t have room for Morgan on the Opening Day roster. They would have needed to jettison one of the out-of-options Alex Lange or Bailey Falter or demote lefty Daniel Lynch IV, whose velocity has ticked up this spring. They’ll keep Morgan in the organization by taking advantage of his remaining minor league option year. It’s likely that Morgan’s deal had some kind of upward mobility or opt-out clause that otherwise would have allowed him to explore other opportunities.
That also seems to be the case for veteran reliever Héctor Neris, who was in camp as a minor league signee. The MLB.com transaction log indicates he was released over the weekend once the Royals decided he wouldn’t break camp. Neris failed to record a strikeout while giving up 11 runs over 6 1/3 innings this spring.
Poll: Who Will Win The AL Central?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams are now focused on the incoming season and being the team to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, however, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The AL Champion Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East yesterday with 39% of the vote. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL Central. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Cleveland Guardians (88-75)
The Guardians managed to sneak their way into an AL Central title in the eleventh hour last year, overtaking the Tigers at the very end of the year thanks to a 20-7 September. They immediately got bounced from the playoffs by Detroit, however, and their response to that quick exit this postseason has left something to be desired. That seemed like a setup for a big offseason, but no such eventful winter occurred. Deserved as Jose Ramirez‘s latest extension may have been, it does nothing to improve the team for 2026. The only potential impact player the team has added anywhere on the roster is veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who is in camp on a minor league deal but is all but certain to make the team. More or less running back a roster that won 88 games last year isn’t the worst idea in the world, but it’s easy to feel as though last year’s division champs may have been overtaken by their rivals who made bigger splashes over the offseason.
Detroit Tigers (87-76)
The Tigers took the Mariners to Game 5 of the ALDS before falling just short, and now they’ll be looking to make the most out of what is likely to be Tarik Skubal‘s final season with the organization. A reunion with Gleyber Torres was the only big move on offense (although the impending debut of top prospect Kevin McGonigle could still transform the team’s lineup this year), but the Tigers were very active in overhauling their pitching staff. Framber Valdez joins Skubal at the front of the rotation and helps cushion the blow of losing Reese Olson to shoulder surgery, while Justin Verlander provides some mid-rotation stability in his homecoming at 43 years old. In the bullpen, the addition of a second future Hall of Fame veteran in Kenley Jansen and a reunion with Kyle Finnegan should create a solid back of the bullpen for a Tigers team that had the second-worst bullpen in the AL by FIP last year. Those additions seem likely to be enough to make the Tigers the favorite to finally claim the AL Central crown for the first time since 2014, though that also seemed likely to be the case last year.
Kansas City Royals (82-80)
The Royals had a middling season last year where they remained on the periphery of playoff relevance but never quite cracked the top tier of contenders. They wound up finishing just barely above .500, but will enter 2026 with hopes of a return to the postseason. Better health from Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic should go a long way for the club, as could the ascension of top prospect Carter Jensen as the heir apparent to franchise catcher Salvador Perez. In terms of external additions, the outfield will now feature Isaac Collins, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas in addition to incumbents Jac Caglianone and Kyle Isbel, while Matt Strahm was brought in to fortify a high-leverage relief mix that already included Carlos Estevez and Lucas Erceg. With a handful of solid (if unspectacular) additions and an exciting young talent coming up from the minors, it’s not hard to imagine the Royals having a better year in 2026. Will that be enough to win the division?
Minnesota Twins (70-92)
2025 was a tough year for the Twins, as the organization was unable to lock down the sale both ownership and fans were hoping for off the field, while the team on the diamond struggled badly and wound up getting blown up at last summer’s trade deadline. Minnesota was saved from the basement of the AL Central by the lowly White Sox, but this offseason a change in control person, the hiring of a new manager, and the sudden departure of team president Derek Falvey led to instability at the top of the organization without much movement on the roster to show for it. Josh Bell and Victor Caratini are both solid complementary additions to the lineup, but neither makes up for the loss of Carlos Correa. A rotation that looked like the team’s strength lost Pablo Lopez before the season even began, while Taylor Rogers and others will be asked to save the bullpen after the losses of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louis Varland. There’s plenty of interesting young talent (Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall, Taj Bradley) on the roster, but a whole lot would have to go right for the Twins to fight their way back to the top of the AL Central this year.
Chicago White Sox (60-102)
The White Sox are still in the midst of what figures to be a lengthy rebuilding process, but more optimism can be found in the organization than has been the case for quite a while now. Young, impactful players like Shane Smith, Colson Montgomery, and Kyle Teel are beginning to establish themselves at the big league level, and the White Sox put in some effort to supplement that budding young core with external additions. Munetaka Murakami is the big addition who could easily add 40 home runs to the White Sox lineup if he pans out, but Anthony Kay, Sean Newcomb, and Seranthony Dominguez could all prove to be savvy additions to the roster as well on he pitching side. It would be a shock if these moves were enough to pull Chicago all the way to the top of the AL Central, but it seems possible that their days of losing 100 games a year are coming to a close.
Who do MLBTR readers think will win the division when all is said and done? Will the Guardians manage to come out on top for the third straight season despite virtually no additions? Will the Tigers finally break through in Skubal’s final season before free agency? Will the Royals’ busy offseason be enough to help them take a leap forward? Or will the Twins or White Sox shock the baseball world? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the AL Central in 2026?
Latest On Royals’ Rotation
The Royals announced that right-handers Ryan Bergert and Mason Black have both been optioned to Triple-A Omaha. The two of them will begin the 2026 season as rotation depth options for the club.
The two came into camp blocked for rotation roles. Their only real path would be if someone ahead of them got injured. The Royals have been fortunate in that regard and should start the season with their projected top five of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic and Noah Cameron. The most notable injury in camp thus far was an oblique strain for Stephen Kolek, who was likely ticketed for Triple-A.
With five healthy guys in the rotation, that squeezes Bergert and Black to the minors, where they should be joined by Ben Kudrna, Luinder Avila and Mitch Spence. Spence and Avila haven’t been officially optioned yet but Avila has been away from the club, playing for Venezuela in their World Baseball Classic championship run. Kolek can jump into that mix whenever he’s healthy.
With all of those depth options, it leaves Bailey Falter in an interesting spot. Per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, the Royals have considered using him as a sixth starter or long reliever but are also open to trading him.
Falter has been a serviceable but not dominant pitcher in his career. In 466 innings, he has allowed 4.58 earned runs per nine. His 6.9% walk rate is quite strong but he has only punched out 17.8% of batters faced.
Kansas City traded for Falter at last year’s deadline when Bubic, Ragans and Michael Lorenzen were all on the injured list. Lorenzen came back a few weeks later, which got Falter nudged to the bullpen. After two relief outings, Falter himself landed on the IL due to a left bicep contusion. He spent a little more than a month on the IL to finish the season.
Falter is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors. That means the Royals have to keep him on the active roster or else remove him from the 40-man entirely. A trade would be one way to do that but his value probably isn’t terribly high. As mentioned, his results have been more passable than great. He can’t be optioned down to Triple-A and is going to make $3.6MM this year.
While there are certainly other teams who could use some extra depth, they have other options. Free agency still has guys like Lucas Giolito, Tyler Anderson and Patrick Corbin out there. As Opening Day nears, there are some veterans who could opt out of minor league deals. Some arms will also end up on waivers as teams make their final roster decisions as well.
Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images
AL Central Notes: Valera, Collins, Baldwin
Guardians outfielder George Valera has made a solid case for the left field job this spring. The 25-year-old has an .833 OPS across 10 games. Valera hasn’t been in the lineup since Monday, and manager Stephen Vogt revealed his dealing with a mild left calf strain. He’ll remain sidelined for a few more days, relays Tim Stebbins of MLB.com.
Valera made his debut in the final month of the 2025 campaign. He delivered a respectable 113 wRC+ in his brief stint with Cleveland. The lefty-swinging outfielder was on the bench in Game 1 of the Wild Card round with Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Tigers, but drew the start in right field for the next two games of the series. Valera homered off of Casey Mize in the first inning of Game 2, setting the tone for Cleveland’s lone win.
The Guardians struggled mightily to find consistent offense in the outfield last year. Steven Kwan had a fine season, but Cleveland finished dead last in OPS in both center field and right field. Angel Martinez was the main culprit in center, with Nolan Jones dragging down the numbers in right. The current plan for the upcoming season is for Kwan to move to center field, with Valera and top prospect Chase DeLauter handling the corners, at least against right-handed pitching. Martinez and Johnathan Rodriguez could factor in against lefties.
Outside of a stumble in his first taste of Triple-A, Valera has typically held his own as a hitter at every minor league level. Injuries limited his workload in 2025, but he slashed .255/.346/.457 in 28 games at Columbus.
A newcomer to the division is dealing with a minor injury of his own. Isaac Collins of the Royals is working through back/side tightness, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The outfielder hasn’t suited up for a spring game since Tuesday. Collins downplayed the issue to Rogers, describing the injury as something he doesn’t want to attempt to play through with Opening Day around the corner.
Kansas City acquired Collins and right-hander Nick Mears from the Brewers for Angel Zerpa in mid-December. The outfielder was a bit of a late bloomer, debuting as a 26-year-old with Milwaukee in 2024. He only appeared in 11 games that season, but emerged as an everyday player this past year.
Collins posted a 122 wRC+ across 441 plate appearances in his first extended chance as a big leaguer. He chipped in nine home runs and 16 stolen bases. Braves catcher Drake Baldwin took home NL Rookie of the Year honors fairly comfortably, but Collins finished fourth in the voting, just behind former teammate Caleb Durbin.
Similar to the Guardians, the Royals had a tough time finding reliable offensive production in the outfield last season. The club made sure to address that need this winter, trading for Collins and signing Lane Thomas and Starling Marte. The two veteran additions are right-handed, making them sensible platoon partners for Kyle Isbel and Jac Caglianone. The switch-hitting Collins should be ticketed for an everyday gig in left field, assuming this injury isn’t too serious.
The White Sox outfield will be missing a familiar face this year, with longtime center fielder Luis Robert Jr. getting dealt to the Mets. His potential replacement is now dealing with an arm injury. Brooks Baldwin has been sidelined with elbow inflammation, per Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times. The versatile 25-year-old hasn’t appeared in a spring game for more than a week. “Talking to the trainers, we got an image, we got everything done,” Baldwin said. “But a lot of soreness in there, [we’re trying] to get it to calm down and take it day to day and see where we’re at.”
Baldwin spent the majority of the 2025 season with the big-league club, slashing .240/.290/.407 with 11 home runs across 103 games. He made 64 starts in the outfield, but also picked up double-digit appearances at second base, third base, and shortstop. Baldwin is headed for regular center field work this year, flanked by Andrew Benintendi and new arrival Austin Hays. If he’s forced to miss time, journeyman Derek Hill and former Yankee Everson Pereira would be candidates to see increased opportunities.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images