The Royals have designated outfielder Lane Adams for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for the newly re-signed Alex Gordon, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.
Adams, who turned 26 in November, was selected by the Royals in the 13th round of the 2009 draft and made a brief Major League debut in 2014, tallying three plate appearances for the Royals. The fleet-footed center fielder reached Triple-A for the first time this past season, struggling through 37 games there on the heels of a strong Double-A campaign. Overall, the Oklahoma native batted a combined .281/.347/.445 with 16 homers and 31 stolen bases — his third consecutive season with 30 or more steals.
Last winter, Baseball America rated him 15th among Royals farmhands, calling him a plus-plus runner and a plus defender with a fringe-average arm and a bit of pull power. Ultimately BA pegged him as a fourth outfielder. Given his strong defensive chops, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a club take a flier on Adams.
not a huge deal
What’s the “on the other hand” about this guy? Seems like a great get for just about any team.
He’s 26 and just reached Triple A, which he struggled at. Not trying to bash him, and another team will definetly take a flier on him, but his age (26 being old for a guy who just reached Triple A) doesn’t make him as appealing as say a 22 year old doing the same thing.
I know we have a somewhat crowded outfield but I hope Klentak just takes a gamble on him, doesn’t hurt to have a lot of depth