Royals Release Seth Maness

The Royals have released righty Seth Maness from his minor-league deal, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Maness requested the release, per the report, in hopes of finding a chance to work as a starter with another organization.

From 2013 through 2016, Maness was mostly a steady and productive reliever for the Cardinals. But he underwent a primary repair procedure to address UCL damage back in 2016 and has not been able to regain his former standing since.

Though he received some MLB time last year with the Royals, Maness has been knocked around a fair bit since his return. In 58 2/3 Triple-A frames since the start of the 2017 season, he has allowed eighty hits (nine of which left the yard) and 38 earned runs. Maness has recorded a 43:9 K/BB ratio in that span while drawing grounders on about half of the balls put in play against him, echoing his low-BB/high-GB history, but evidently he has not shown enough to warrant an extended stint in the majors.

It seems that Maness would now like to revisit his roots as a starter. He did have success working from the rotation in his only full season of the minors, way back in 2012, when he pitched to a 2.97 ERA with 112 strikeouts and just ten walks over 169 2/3 innings split between High-A and Double-A. That was quite some time ago, but it would not be surprising to see an organization give him a shot at returning to a starting role in the minors.