The Royals announced that second baseman Jonathan India has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 30, with a sprained left wrist. Kansas City activated Jac Caglianone from his own IL stint in a corresponding move. They also finalized the previously announced promotions of catching prospect Carter Jensen and reliever Luinder Avila with the roster expansion.
It’s not clear how long the Royals expect India to be sidelined. Kansas City acquired him from the Reds for Brady Singer over the offseason. They wanted India to play a multi-positional role while serving as a high-OBP bat at the top of the lineup. He hasn’t met either expectation. India struggled in an early-season utility capacity and has been exclusively at second base or designated hitter since the middle of May. He also hasn’t hit much, leading manager Matt Quatraro to drop him from the leadoff spot to sixth or seventh in the batting order this month.
India carries a .232/.324/.342 slash with eight home runs across 532 plate appearances. His plate discipline has been fine, but a career-low .274 average on balls in play hasn’t done him any favors. It’s trending to be the worst season of his five years in the big leagues. India isn’t a great defender, so the below-average offense has left him around replacement level overall. He’s trending towards a non-tender for what’d be his final year of arbitration.
Kansas City will have Adam Frazier and Michael Massey cover second base while India is sidelined. The righty-swinging Nick Loftin could also see some time there against left-handed pitching. Frazier has proven a nice deadline pickup, batting .307 in 33 games since the Royals acquired him from Pittsburgh. Massey and Loftin have had poor seasons. Massey has at least collected hits in five of six games since returning from an ankle sprain that cost him two months, so perhaps he’ll come closer to last year’s league average form in September.
The Royals are off today. They’ll open a three-game series against the Angels tomorrow. Kansas City is three games back of Seattle for the final American League Wild Card spot. They’ve also dropped half a game behind the Rangers, who have won five straight to pull within 2.5 games of the Mariners.
Singer for India didn’t turn out so well for KC. Solid starting pitchers are a hot commidity. So-so second basemen, not so much.