The Royals announced that catcher Tyler Cropley has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Omaha. They also announced that left-hander Tucker Davidson was claimed by the Orioles, something that was reported on earlier. The moves clear a couple of spots on the club’s 40-man roster before the offseason.
Cropley, 28 in December, was twice selected to the Royals’ roster in 2023. The first stint resulted in him getting designated for assignment after just a few days without getting into a game. He passed through waivers and was outrighted, getting selected back to the roster again a couple of weeks later. He was able to make his major league debut as the season was winding down, getting seven plate appearances over two games.
It’s possible that Cropley was mostly viewed as an emergency fill-in, as both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were on the injured list at the time. He has never really been a highly-rated prospect and has two games of experience at the Triple-A level. The Royals have now removed him from the roster and he will have the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, since this is his second career outright. It’s unclear if he plans to do so or not.
Including players on the 60-day injured list, the Royals currently have 46 players on their 40-man roster. Zack Greinke, Matt Duffy are Brad Keller are set to become free agents at season’s end, which will drop the count to 43. The 60-day IL goes away between the World Series and Spring Training, so the Royals will have to clear at least three more spots.
More like Tyler Crapley. Amirite?