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Royals Select John Rave

By Darragh McDonald | May 26, 2025 at 11:15am CDT

The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder John Rave. Infielder Cavan Biggio has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha as the corresponding active roster move, which was reported yesterday. The Royals had three vacancies on their 40-man roster due to Luke Maile, Chris Stratton and Hunter Renfroe recently being designated for assignment. Their count goes from 37 to 38 with today’s moves.

Rave, 27, gets the call to the majors for the first time. The Royals selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, signing him to a modest bonus of $297.5K. Through most of his minor league career, he has been a fringe prospect who does a lot of things well but doesn’t really excel at anything. From 2021 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 1,942 times in 454 minor league games. He hit 63 home runs and stole 63 bases. His 12.3% walk rate was strong but he also struck out at a high clip of 25.1%. It all added up to a combined .255/.349/.433 batting line and 103 wRC+.

He’s been at a higher level of production this year. Through 44 Triple-A contests, he has already hit nine long balls and swiped 17 bags. His 22.8% strikeout rate is close to average while his 10.9% walk rate is still strong. He has a .301/.382/.549 line and 141 wRC+. Some of that might be due to a .358 batting average on balls in play but that’s not drastically ahead of the .321 BABIP he had over the previous four seasons.

Rave is considered capable of playing all three outfield spots. Between the defense and his ability to steal a base, he doesn’t need to a hit a ton to be a useful part of the outfield picture in Kansas City. The club has been struggling for years to find solutions on the grass. Even though they emerged from their rebuilding period last year and made the playoffs, they got a collective .222/.281/.367 line and 79 wRC+ from their gardeners. It’s been more of the same this year, with a .239/.288/.336 line and 72 wRC+.

Renfroe was booted from the roster last week after more than a year of struggles in Kansas City. MJ Melendez was optioned to the minors last month. Drew Waters and Kyle Isbel are only marginally below league average at the plate with some solid defense. Jonathan India isn’t a natural outfielder and isn’t hitting much this year either.

In short, there’s not much blocking Rave from earning some decent playing time. He’s in right field today and batting sixth, with Isbel in center and Nick Loftin in left. If the outfield group continues to be lackluster through July, the Royals should be targeting upgrades on the trade market.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

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Kansas City Royals Transactions Cavan Biggio John Rave

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View Comments (19)
Post a Comment

19 Comments

  1. King Floch

    2 months ago

    Johnny Rave sounds like a superhero.

    Or a supervillain.

    8
    Reply
    • rememberthecoop

      2 months ago

      Or something that happens in the basement of a dark building.

      4
      Reply
  2. Andujar

    2 months ago

    Party starts now.

    11
    Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      2 months ago

      LMFAO has just entered the chat

      Reply
  3. sascoach2003

    2 months ago

    Post over the weekend suggested the Padres needed LF help. Wonder if Renfroe asked for release to approach that?

    Reply
    • Hammerin' Hank

      2 months ago

      But they need help, not a washed-up player who can’t hit.

      6
      Reply
  4. raulp

    2 months ago

    Roster spring cleaning

    Reply
  5. jonzin07

    2 months ago

    Not roster spring cleaning…..just trying to find someone who can hit, pitching has been outstanding but every game is a pitchers duel because Royals can only muster up a run or two, and baserunning has been atrocious, watching the Royals game is like watching paint dry……thank goodness Cags will be here soon

    1
    Reply
  6. its_happening

    2 months ago

    Solid name.

    2
    Reply
  7. mrperkins

    2 months ago

    Great news! I haven’t heard MLBtraderumors talk about Rave reviews much since Refsnyder, O’Brien, and Andujar flamed out. It is a start of a new wave!!!

    1
    Reply
  8. Acoss1331

    2 months ago

    I bet he gets Rave reviews from baseball scouts.

    3
    Reply
    • Cave

      2 months ago

      Do you think he gets rave reviews on his defense as a catcher or OF ?

      3
      Reply
      • Srechter35

        2 months ago

        Makes me happy this lore still exists lol

        2
        Reply
  9. Cave

    2 months ago

    Imagine his name was crab

    1
    Reply
    • kcmark

      2 months ago

      John Crab?

      1
      Reply
  10. danm-6

    2 months ago

    Saw John Rave play in a random Cape Cod league game, June 2018! He had just finished his sophomore year at Illinois State, and played for the Chatham Anglers that summer.

    Rave was batting 2nd that day, just in front of (the headliner of this game) Spencer Torkelson, who had just broken Barry Bonds’s record for most HR as a freshman at Arizona St.

    Wouldn’t remember that I saw Rave except that I took a photo of the (handwritten) lineup that day, on Chatham’s dry erase lineup board near where you enter the bleachers.

    Anyway… I’m a Reds fan, but I love little random “small world” baseball moments like this.

    Good luck John Rave! (Though maybe not today… lol.)

    5
    Reply
  11. Dumpster Divin Theo

    2 months ago

    Get out your glow stick, this is news to just…uprorariously praise

    2
    Reply
  12. chrisjaybecker

    2 months ago

    Scouts rave about John. His walk-up music is that song that goes: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM – (AIR RIDE SIREN) BOOM BOOM…

    Reply
  13. usafcop

    2 months ago

    I’m just here to see what all the Rave was about.

    I will show myself out. Nothing to see here.

    Reply

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