JUNE 11: The Royals announced that Newberry has cleared outright waivers. The 26-year-old doesn’t have the requisite service time to elect free agency, so he’ll report to Triple-A Omaha and attempt to work his way back onto the major league roster at some point this season.
JUNE 7: The Royals have designated right-hander Jake Newberry for assignment. The move officially creates roster space for the promotion of pitching prospect Jackson Kowar, who will make his MLB debut today. Kansas City also optioned righty Jakob Junis, as was reported yesterday.
Newberry has appeared in each of the last four seasons for Kansas City, and despite some shaky advanced metrics, managed to post a 4.07 ERA over 66 1/3 relief innings for the Royals from 2018-20. Fortune turned on Newberry this season, however, as he was rocked for eight runs and a 16.62 ERA over 4 1/3 innings in 2021.
A 37th-round pick for the Royals in the 2012 draft, Newberry has worked almost exclusively as a reliever throughout his pro career, and he has posted some quality numbers in the minors. Over 406 career innings in the K.C. farm system, Newberry has a 3.24 ERA and 22.3% strikeout rate. Something of an extreme groundball pitcher earlier in his career, Newberry hasn’t translated that skill into the big leagues, with only a 34.5% grounder rate over 70 2/3 innings in the Show.