Royals, Brett de Geus Agree To Minor League Contract

The Royals have signed reliever Brett de Geus to a minor league deal, according to an announcement from the Frederick team in the Atlantic League. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Omaha.

de Geus was one of a few former major leaguers who signed with Frederick last month. It only took five appearances there for him to catch the attention of Royals’ evaluators. de Geus threw six innings of two-run ball, striking out six while walking just one of 25 opponents. Kansas City will give him another crack in the affiliated ranks for what’ll be his sixth season in the minors.

The Dodgers originally drafted de Geus in the 33rd round of the 2017 draft. He topped out at High-A in the Los Angeles system before the pandemic shuttered the minor leagues in 2020. The Rangers selected him with the second pick in that year’s Rule 5 draft and carried him on the MLB roster for 18 games. He subsequently landed with the Diamondbacks on waivers and finished the season in the Arizona bullpen.

Between the two clubs, de Geus worked to a 7.56 ERA with a below-average 17.2% strikeout rate over 50 innings. While it wasn’t a great showing, he was making a big jump from the low minors. He was designated for assignment at the end of the year and outrighted to Double-A Amarillo. The 25-year-old struggled there last season, allowing a 5.96 ERA with matching 14.4% strikeout and walk percentages. Arizona released him midway through the season.

Even with middling results, de Geus has had some success keeping the ball on the ground at the upper levels. He’s yet to pitch in Triple-A in his career and will get the opportunity to try to work his way back to the majors. Kansas City has had one of the league’s least effective bullpens thus far. They’re 28th in ERA (5.38) and rank 25th in ground-ball percentage (41.3%).