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The Most Alarming Aspect Of Royals’ Disappointing Season

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The Royals are much closer to the worst team in baseball than a playoff spot. While Kansas City wasn’t expected to make the postseason, there’s no question the organization envisioned better results than they had in the first half.

There are a number of reasons for the club’s underperformance. The most concerning theme for the organization has been the down years and/or injury issues for most of their top young talent. Kansas City expected to be further along in the rebuild by now. Instead, a lot of the players they’ve envisioned as a developing core have plateaued or gone backwards.

That’s not unanimously true. Bobby Witt Jr. has stolen 27 bases, connected on 14 home runs and taken a huge step defensively. Even with a modest .300 on-base percentage, he looks like the franchise shortstop the Royals wanted when selecting him with the 2nd overall pick in 2019. Rookie Maikel Garcia has taken over third base with plus exit velocities and strong defense.

Aside from the left side of the infield, the Royals’ young players have mostly underwhelmed, however.

Melendez, a 2nd-round selection in 2017, emerged as one of the sport’s top prospects with a 41-homer showing in the upper minors two years ago. The left-handed hitter connected on 18 longballs with a roughly average .217/.313/.393 line as a rookie in 2022. His power production has fallen off this year; he carries a meager .206/.289/.333 mark with six homers in 346 trips to the plate.

While Melendez walks a fair amount, he offsets that with big strikeout totals. He has gone down on strikes nearly 30% of the time this season. That puts a lot of pressure on him to hit for power, no small feat in one of the sport’s most pitcher-friendly home parks. Melendez has a huge 93 MPH average exit velocity and is making hard contact (95+ MPH) on over half his batted balls. There’s clearly power upside in there. He’s not in a great environment to maximize it and is striking out too frequently though.

Were Melendez catching every day, that offensive profile would be more acceptable. With Salvador Perez behind the dish, the Royals have deployed the youngster mostly in the corner outfield. Well below-average offense at a bat-first position means he’s playing at a worse than replacement level rate.

The Royals invested heavily in college pitching in the 2018 draft. Singer was the only member of the group who put together mid-rotation results, seemingly breaking out with a 3.23 ERA over 27 appearances last season. He’s gone in the opposite direction this year.

Over 18 starts, the Florida product is allowing 5.80 earned runs per nine across 94 2/3 innings. His strikeouts and grounders are both at career-worst levels. Singer’s strikeout rate has dropped over six percentage points to a modest 18.1% clip. His swinging strikes are down to a below-average 8.5% of his offerings.

Singer’s arsenal has backed up. His sinker is averaging 92.3 MPH, down a tick and a half from last year’s level. His career-long struggle to find a changeup is still showing up in his results against left-handed hitters. Southpaws have a .292/.373/.489 line in 250 trips to the plate this year.

Lynch, the 34th overall selection in the aforementioned college-heavy ’18 draft, has started 50 games in his MLB career. The 6’6″ southpaw has yet to find much success, posting a 5.10 ERA over parts of three seasons. His 4.18 mark through eight starts is a personal low, though he’s paired it with a few alarming underlying indicators.

Most notably, Lynch’s velocity has taken a step back. He’s averaging 92.7 MPH on his heater, down from the 94 MPH range in which he sat in 2021-22. A Spring Training rotator cuff strain could explain that dip, although Lynch’s velocity has fallen even as he’s gotten further removed from the season-opening injured list stint. He averaged a season-low 91.6 MPH on his four-seam during his final start headed into the All-Star Break.

With the drop in speed has come a corresponding hit to his strikeouts. The Virginia product has fanned under 16% of opposing hitters. It’s the lowest rate of his career, down nearly five points from last season. Lynch’s 11.7% swinging strike percentage is still solid, so he’s not losing whiffs on a per-pitch basis, but he’s had a tougher time finishing off at-bats.

Pasquantino’s disappointing year has been more about health than performance. His .247/.324/.437 line was down markedly from a huge .295/.383/.450 rookie showing, but even the diminished version of Pasquantino was one of Kansas City’s top hitters. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old tore the labrum in his right shoulder and underwent surgery last month. His season is finished after just 61 games.

Pasquantino’s injury has opened regular playing time for the 24-year-old Pratto. Like Melendez, the lefty-hitting first baseman emerged as a top prospect based on huge power production in the upper minors. His profile also comes with significant swing-and-miss concerns, which have resurfaced at the MLB level.

Pratto is hitting .246/.331/.388 with six homers in a career-high 257 plate appearances. That’s better than the bulk of the Kansas City lineup, league average offense by measure of wRC+. Yet he’s needed a .395 average on balls in play to keep that production respectable. He’s striking out at a 37.7% clip, the highest rate among players with 250+ trips to the plate. If he’s to be a long-term regular, especially at a bat-first position, he’ll need to put the ball in play more frequently.

By the time the Royals acquired Waters from the Braves almost exactly one year ago, the outfielder’s stock was well down from its peak level. The switch-hitter had been a borderline Top 50 prospect at one point in the Atlanta farm system, but mounting strikeout issues in the upper minors raised questions about his offense. The Royals were buying low to some extent, though they still relinquished the 35th overall pick in last year’s draft (which Atlanta subsequently used on high school righty JR Ritchie) for Waters.

Kansas City wouldn’t have given up a pick that high if they didn’t believe Waters still had a chance to be an everyday player. An offseason trade of Michael A. Taylor cleared a path to center field reps. Waters’ hopes of starting on Opening Day were dashed by a left oblique strain that cost him the first two months of the season.

Since returning, the 24-year-old has put up a .239/.293/.354 line over 37 games. He’s striking out an untenable 37.4% rate. Perhaps there’s some rust to be shaken off after the extended absence, but Waters’ early results aren’t offering much hope he’s on the verge of a breakthrough. Whether he’ll make enough contact to be a regular is still in question.

With Waters opening the season on the shelf, the 26-year-old Isbel got the Opening Day nod in center field. He has just a .210/.258/.355 line in 37 contests. Isbel is making the most contact of his career but not hitting many line drives, and his overall production closely matches last year’s .211/.264/.340 slash. The former 3rd-round selection has been viewed by most evaluators as a fringe regular, although he still ranked among K.C.’s top ten prospects at Baseball America each season from 2019-22. He looks better suited for fourth/fifth outfield duty than a starting role.

Massey, 25, showed some promise with a .243/.307/.376 line as a rookie late last season. He got the Opening Day nod at second base this year but hasn’t seized the job. The left-handed hitter has a .220/.277/.320 mark with four homers over 220 plate appearances. Opposing pitchers have punched him out 28.2% of the time. Massey is hitting the ball reasonably hard but chasing too many pitches outside the strike zone to post a decent on-base mark.

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Without much progress from most of their young players, the Royals haven’t had many silver linings. A 26-65 record would be an obvious disappointment regardless of how it was happening, but it’s made more so by the scarcity of controllable players asserting themselves as key pieces for the future. Aside from Witt and arguably Garcia, none of Kansas City’s early-mid 20s talent is staking a firm claim to an important role for next season.

The  primary focus for the next few weeks will be which veteran players get moved at the deadline, with closer Scott Barlow standing out as their top trade chip. Once August 1 passes, the final couple months will be about evaluation. Can any of their currently scuffling controllable players turn things around to head into the offseason with positive momentum to build upon?

Kyle Isbel To Miss Six Weeks With Grade 2 Hamstring Strain

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The Royals announced some roster moves earlier today, with outfielder Kyle Isbel going on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain and left-hander Austin Cox optioned to Triple-A. Those roster spots were taken by infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton and right-hander Jonathan Heasley, both of them getting recalled from Omaha. Manager Matt Quatraro tells Anne Rogers of MLB.com that Isbel has a Grade 2 hamstring strain and will be sidelined for six weeks.

Isbel, 26, was a third round pick in the 2018 draft and has been considered one of the club’s top prospects in recent years. Baseball America had him in the top 10 among Royal farmhands for four years straight beginning in 2019. He reached the majors in 2021 and has had roughly a full season’s worth of playing time since then, getting into 160 games with 457 plate appearances.

He hasn’t been able to contribute much at the plate in that time, currently sporting a batting line of .222/.274/.359 for a wRC+ of 73. He’s struck out in 25.6% of his trips to the plate and walked in just 5.9% of them. He has been able to contribute in other ways, however. He’s played all three outfield positions and has accrued +16 Defensive Runs Saved, +14 Outs Above Average and a 9.1 grade from Ultimate Zone Rating. When combined with his 13 stolen bases, he’s been worth 1.3 wins above replacement, even with that tepid offensive production. Any kind of step forward at the plate would make him a solid everyday player.

Unfortunately, he’ll now have to miss the next few weeks with this injury, which is unfortunate timing. Despite his lack of offense this year, he may have been able to continue getting regular playing time. The Royals traded Michael A. Taylor this winter, seemingly at least partially motivated as a way to clear a path for Drew Waters to get everyday playing time in center field. But Waters suffered an oblique strain in February and has been on the injured list all year. He was set to start a rehab assignment this week but it was recently reported that some lower back tightness has put those plans on pause. That could have allowed Isbel continued reps at the position but he’ll now have to join Waters on the IL instead.

The Royals will now have to figure out how to proceed up the middle without either of those two. Quatraro tells Rogers that Jackie Bradley Jr. and Nate Eaton will be the primary options with Maikel Garcia in the mix as well. Bradley is an excellent defender but has been one of the worst hitters in the majors in recent years, including a tepid .156/.255/.200 showing this season. Eaton is primarily an infielder but has some time on the grass, while Garcia has only played infield thus far in his career.

Royals Notes: Isbel, Waters, Melendez

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Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel left yesterday’s game against the Orioles with a left hamstring strain, as noted by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers. The severity of Isbel’s strain isn’t currently known, but it seems likely he’ll miss at least some time with the injury.

Isbel, was a third round pick by the Royals in the 2018 draft. He made his debut in 2021 with a solid 28-game cup of coffee, slashing .276/.337/.434 in 83 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of 108. Paired with his excellent center field defense, that slash line left him poised to potentially be an above average regular for Kansas City going forward. Unfortunately, Isbel has yet to deliver on that promise, as his bat has taken a turn for the worse since the start of the 2022 season. Over the past two seasons, Isbel has slashed just .210/.260/.343 in 374 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of just 65.

Isbel’s hamstring injury may put any attempts to get things back on track on hold for the 26-year-old outfielder. Despite his meager offensive performance, however, the injury still figures to be a considerable blow to the Royals if Isbel misses time. His glove in center field is still among the best available, and the club is lacking in center field depth. Outfielder Drew Waters, who opened the 2023 campaign on the injured list due to an oblique strain, seemed to be nearing a return, but recently suffered a setback and has yet to head out for a rehab assignment, per Rogers. That likely leaves Jackie Bradley Jr. to draw starts in center in the event that Isbel misses time, though Bradley has been even worse on offense this year, clocking in at 70% worse than league average by measure of wRC+ in 51 plate appearances.

The 24-year-old Waters was a top prospect in the Braves organization for years after they selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft, but was traded to Kansas City midway through the 2022 season following the breakout of Braves center fielder Michael Harris II, which left Waters largely blocked in Atlanta. Waters ultimately got into 32 games for the Royals last year, and was impressive during that time, with a .240/.324/.479 slash line that was good for a 125 wRC+. Whenever Waters is ready to return, he seems likely to become a fixture of the club’s outfield mix, which currently includes Edward Olivares and Hunter Dozier in addition to Isbel and Bradley.

Also part of the outfield mix is MJ Melendez, the club’s second round pick in the 2017 draft and a former top prospect. Still just 24 years old, Melendez is primarily a catcher by trade, but has been blocked at the big league level by the presence of franchise catcher Salvador Perez. They split time behind the plate in 2022, with Melendez also seeing time in the outfield and both players often sliding into the DH slot to ensure both received sufficient playing time. That system worked fairly well last year, as Melendez ultimately got into 129 games for the Royals, slashing .217/.313/.393 for a roughly league average wRC+ of 99.

Melendez has caught just 68 2/3 innings so far this season, however, and manager Matt Quatraro has indicated that Melendez will be working exclusively in the outfield for the time being following the club’s decision to call up Freddy Fermin to act as the backup catcher. Per Quatraro, the decision was made to help Melendez focus on his offense, which has taken a turn for the worse so far in the 2023 campaign. In 118 plate appearances this season, Melendez has slashed just .200/.280/.371 with a well below average wRC+ of 76 and a concerning 33.9% strikeout rate. Melendez getting right at the plate would provide a huge boost to the Royals going forward, as the club ranks bottom five in the majors in terms of runs scored so far this season.

Drew Waters Out For Six Weeks With Oblique Strain

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Royals outfielder Drew Waters will be out of action for six weeks due a left oblique strain, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Given that there’s about five weeks until Opening Day, it seems as though Waters is destined to miss the start of the season.

Waters, 24, was a second round draft pick of Atlanta and was considered one of the best prospects in the game not too long ago. Baseball America had him up in the #32 slot on their top 100 list going into 2021, with reports highlighting his defense, speed, throwing arm and ability to hit from both sides of the plate. The biggest red flag on his profile, however, was a propensity for strikeouts that has carried into the upper levels of the minors as well as the big leagues.

Waters spent 2021 in Triple-A and struck out in 30.9% of his plate appearances, finishing with a .240/.329/.381 batting line and 94 wRC+. He had some similar results in the first half of 2022 before getting flipped to the Royals alongside two other minor leaguers for a Competitive Balance draft pick. The organizational switch seemed to suit Waters, as he finished the season strong. He hit .295/.399/.541 in Omaha before getting promoted to the majors in August, then hit .240/.324/.479 in the bigs for a wRC+ of 125. Those strong numbers aside, the strikeout issues still lingered. He was punched out in 28.7% of his trips to the plate with Omaha and 36.7% with the Royals.

Even though the strikeouts are still a work in progress, it seems the club believes in Waters enough to give him a lengthy audition. The trade of Michael A. Taylor to the Twins freed up center field and seemingly moved Waters to the top of the depth chart there. He’s considered a strong defender and could prove to be a useful player out there even without strong offense, similar to Taylor, though an above-average bat would obviously be ideal.

It seems that the audition will have to be delayed, at least for a short time. If the provided timeline holds, then Waters won’t miss too much of the season, but oblique injuries are often tricky and recoveries from them don’t always go exactly as planned. For as long as he’s out, the club will have to come up with a plan to cover the position. Manager Matt Quatraro says that Kyle Isbel will “get every opportunity to grab that spot,” per Rogers. Isbel has hit just .226/.281/.361 in the majors thus far but has a much stronger line of .268/.357/.447 in Triple-A over the past two years. He also has strong defensive numbers so far and could be a very useful contributor if he hits at the major league level.

With Isbel likely moving into center for a while, that will free up some playing time in the corners for others. Edward Olivares is a straightforward outfielder in the mix, while there are also many infielders who could see time on the grass, such as Nate Eaton, Hunter Dozier, Samad Taylor and Nick Pratto. There’s also catcher MJ Melendez, who has seen some time in the outfield with Salvador Perez taking the bulk of playing time behind the plate. A non-roster wild card will be Franmil Reyes, who recently signed a minor league deal with the club. He hasn’t played much outfield in recent years but the Waters injury could potentially free up some at-bats for him in the designated hitter slot.

Royals Add Nick Pratto, Seven Others To Major League Roster

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The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve recalled top first base prospect Nick Pratto from Triple-A Omaha as one of eight players joining the Major League roster. Also coming to the Majors are catcher Sebastian Rivero, infielder Maikel Garcia and lefty Angel Zerpa, who’ve been recalled from Double-A Arkansas. Additionally, the Royals selected the contracts of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton, catcher Freddy Fermin, outfielder Brewer Hicklen and infielder Michael Massey from Omaha.

The deluge of additions comes in conjunction with the previously announced slate of ten current Royals heading to the restricted list in advance of the team’s road series against the Blue Jays, where travel restrictions prevent unvaccinated athletes from entering Canada. Andrew Benintendi, Dylan Coleman, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, Kyle Isbel, Brad Keller, MJ Melendez, Whit Merrifield, Brady Singer and Michael A. Taylor are all now formally on the restricted list.

As MLB.com’s Anne Rogers tweets, the roster spots of starting pitchers placed on the restricted list (i.e. Singer, Keller) cannot be filled until four days after they last pitched, per MLB rules, which explains the discrepancy between eight players being added versus the ten who went on the restricted list.

The Royals indicated in today’s announcement that they expect to add “up to two more players” to the big league roster over the course of the series. They’ll make another addition tomorrow and another on Sunday. Any players whose contracts were selected to the 40-man roster for this series can be returned to Triple-A without first needing to clear waivers, due to their status as Covid-19-related replacements.

Pratto’s promotion is the most notable of the bunch. The 14th overall pick in the 2017 draft, the California high school product slowly progressed up the minor league ladder. He had an awful 2019 showing in High-A, and the cancelation of the following minor league season dealt his prospect stock a hit heading into 2021. The lefty hitter rebounded in a huge way last year, blasting 36 home runs in a season split between the minors top two levels. That came with some alarming strikeout numbers, but Pratto’s combination of power and huge walk totals was enough to put him firmly in top prospect consideration. He entered the season as Baseball America’s #43 overall farmhand.

Assigned to Omaha to open this year, Pratto has essentially picked up where he left off. He’s hit 17 more longballs and drawn walks at a massive 15.1% clip, but he’s fanned in over 30% of his trips to the plate. The end result — a .240/.374/.484 line through 337 plate appearances — is still excellent. The Royals nevertheless brought up fellow top prospect Vinnie Pasquantino ahead of Pratto, seemingly preferring he get a long leash to iron out the strikeout concerns in the upper minors. It’s very possible he’ll head back to Omaha after the Jays’ series, but Kansas City fans will at least get their first glimpse at a player they hope eventually develops into a middle-of-the-order bat.

It’ll almost certainly be a brief stint for the group of players temporarily added to the 40-man roster. Hicklen was called up briefly as a COVID replacement earlier in the season. Fermin, Massey and Eaton all have opportunities to make their big league debuts in the coming days. Fermin, a former international signee out of Venezuela, is hitting .242/.357/.422 with Omaha this season.

Massey, a fourth-round pick out of Illinois in 2019, was recently named the #8 prospect in the Kansas City system by Baseball America. He owns a .348/.408/.630 line with six homers in 24 games since being bumped up to Omaha last month, and he’ll almost certainly land a permanent 40-man roster spot by next offseason (when Kansas City would need to add him to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft). Eaton is a former 21st-round pick out of VMI. BA recently slotted him 29th in the farm system in recognition of his .329/.388/.591 showing with the Storm Chasers.

Royals To Place Andrew Benintendi, Nine Others On Restricted List

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The Royals are traveling to Toronto tomorrow to begin a series against the Blue Jays but will be without a significant portion of their regular roster. The team announced to reporters, including Alec Lewis of The Athletic, that ten players will be placed on the restricted list. Since unvaccinated travelers are not allowed to cross the Canada-U.S. border, it’s become common for teams to place a handful of players on the restricted list before playing in Toronto. However, the quantity and quality of the Royals players included is noteworthy. The full list of names: Andrew Benintendi, Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, MJ Melendez, Brady Singer, Brad Keller, Kyle Isbel, Michael A. Taylor and Dylan Coleman.

Benintendi is one of the top trade chips this year, as he’s an impending free agent having a good season for a noncompetitive team. He landed the #2 slot on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates, trailing only Willson Contreras. Benintendi is walking in 10.2% of his plate appearances while striking out just 14% of the time and hitting .317/.386/.401 on the year. That amounts to a wRC+ of 127, or 27% above league average. With the Royals currently 35-53, a record worse than all American League teams except for the A’s, they stand out as obvious deadline sellers.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that the Blue Jays were among the teams interested in acquiring Benintendi, which was a fairly logical match. Benintendi bats from the left side, whereas the Blue Jays have a right-handed heavy lineup. They acquired outfielder Raimel Tapia from the Rockies in an offseason trade as a way to try to balance things out. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .263/.289/.375 for an 84 wRC+ this year. Swapping Benintendi into Tapia’s role as part of an outfield/DH mix with George Springer, Teoscar Hernández and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would have been a straightforward upgrade. However, this news would seem to more or less eliminate the chances of such a deal coming together since Benintendi would only be available to the Blue Jays for road games.

In the short term, the Royals will have to find replacements for these players in order get through the upcoming four-game series against the Blue Jays, which starts tomorrow. The corresponding moves are not known at this time.

Royals Place Zack Greinke On 15-Day Injured List

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The Royals announced a flurry of roster moves this afternoon, adding four players (outfielder Kyle Isbel, right-handers Arodys Vizcaino and Jose Cuas, and left-hander Foster Griffin) to the active roster, sending three (left-hander Gabe Speier and right-handers Matt Peacock and Zack Greinke) to the injured list, and returning one (outfielder Brewer Hicklen) to Triple-A Omaha.  Of the four activated, Isbel was reinstated from the injured list, Griffin was recalled from Triple-A, and Vizcaino and Cuas were each selected from Triple-A, meaning that they were also added to the club’s 40-man roster.

Greinke is the only one of the three IL players who is going to the 15-day IL with a designated issue, implying that Peacock and Speier are on the COVID-related injury list.  Isbel had also been on the COVID list due to virus symptoms, though it ended up being a non-COVID illness that sidelined the outfielder for four days.

Greinke is suffering from a right flexor strain, and the veteran righty recently told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that he has been dealing with related soreness for “a little bit.”  While any injury in the forearm or elbow area is a red flag, Greinke added that he has been dealing with some degree of elbow problems for years, so it’s possible that a 15-day absence might be all it takes for Greinke to heal up.

The injury could explain Greinke’s lack of success in his last four starts, as the former Cy Young Award winner has a 9.50 ERA in his last 18 innings of work.  His ERA now sits at 5.05 over 51 2/3 innings, with only a minuscule 11.2% strikeout rate.  Between this lack of whiffs and a lot of hard contact allowed, there isn’t much to like about Greinke’s numbers apart from his typically excellent walk rate (4.5%).

Vizcaino is on the verge of his first MLB appearance since the 2019 season, when he tossed four innings for the Braves before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The veteran didn’t return to the field at all until 2021, when he tossed 7 2/3 innings with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, and Vizcaino then inked a minor league with the Royals this past winter.

After essentially three full years off, it’s hard to know what to expect from Vizcaino in his return to the Show, though he was a very capable bullpen arm for Atlanta in his heyday.  He has also looked quite good with Triple-A Omaha, posting a 1.76 ERA and 29.7% strikeout rate in 15 1/3 innings.  Vizcaino’s 9.4% walk rate is a little on the high side, but actually an improvement over his career 10.8% walk rate at the big league level.

The 27-year-old Cuas has finally reached the majors after a pro career that has seen him bounce around the minors and independent leagues, and change his position entirely from infielder to pitcher.  An 11th-round draft pick by the Brewers in 2015, Cuas wasn’t getting anywhere as a position player, but his fortunes changed after converting to relief pitching in 2018.  Over 126 2/3 career innings in the minors, Cuas has a 2.63 ERA, with a sidearm delivery and a sinker-slider combo that induces a lot of grounders and a good amount (22.22%) of strikeouts.

Royals Place Amir Garrett, Kyle Isbel On Injured List

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The Royals announced a series of roster moves today, with left-handed pitcher Amir Garrett and outfielder Kyle Isbel both going on the injured list. No designation was given for their IL placement, which suggests they are going on the COVID-related IL. Right-hander Dylan Coleman has been recalled to take one of the spots on the active roster, with outfielder Brewer Hicklen’s contract being selected for the other.

After previously spending his entire career with the Reds, Garrett was sent to KC in a March trade and has thrown 13 2/3 innings for his new team with a 4.61 ERA. It’s been a strange campaign for the southpaw so far, as his 29.1% strikeout rate is fairly similar to last year’s mark, but his walk rate has shot up to 20%. That’s much higher than his 13.5% mark last year, which was already above league average. He’s been able to limit the damage due to not allowing a homer yet on the year and also having an unsustainable .148 BABIP. With Garrett out, Gabe Speier is now the only lefty in the team’s bullpen.

Isbel got his first taste of the big leagues last year, hitting  .276/.337/.434 for a 109 wRC+ in 28 games. He’s taken a step back this season, with his line currently sitting at .276/.295/.345, 84 wRC+. He and Michael A. Taylor have gotten most of the center field starts this year, but both are now on the COVID-IL. Dairon Blanco was selected to the roster last week to replace Taylor, with Isbel now being replaced by Hicklen.

No indication was given as to whether Garrett or Isbel has tested positive for COVID. Players can be placed on the COVID-related IL for positive tests, experiencing symptoms or for contract tracing purposes. Under the league’s 2022 health-and-safety protocols, players who test positive are subject to a 10-day absence from the club. It’s possible to be reinstated in less time if the player has gone 24 or more hours without a fever, received a pair of negative PCR tests, and been given approval from a team physician and the MLB/MLBPA joint committee (a panel of one league-appointed and one union-appointed physician).

Hicklen, 26, was selected by the club in the seventh round of the 2017 draft. After some strong performances in the minors, he got himself onto the radar of prospect watchers, with Baseball America putting him on their list of the top 30 KC prospects in 2019 and the following two years as well. Last year, he reached Double-A for the first time, putting up a line of .243/.346/.434. That amounts to a wRC+ of 110, though his best asset is his speed, as evidenced by his 40 steals last year. This year, he got the bump to Triple-A and has hit .266/.350/.455 for a wRC+ of 117, though his already-high strikeout rate has jumped up to 38.8%. The speed is still there, though, as he’s already swiped 11 bags in 42 games. He’s in the Royals’ lineup tonight, batting ninth and playing center field, making his major league debut.

Adalberto Mondesi Diagnosed With Torn ACL; Brady Singer Optioned To Triple-A

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11:19am: Royals general manager Dayton Moore announced that Mondesi has been diagnosed with a torn ACL (Twitter link via Lewis). That’ll quite likely end his season and, depending on his recovery, perhaps even his tenure with the team. Mondesi will be arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter. He’d likely command a salary similar to this year’s affordable $3MM rate, but coming off a major knee injury, it’s not a lock that he’ll be tendered a contract. The Royals will have the entire season to evaluate him and monitor his recovery before making that call. If he’s progressing well, it’s an eminently reasonable price, but only time will tell how the rehab process goes.

As for Singer, he will indeed be built back up as a starting pitcher in Omaha, Moore added. That could point to a quick turnaround and return to the Majors, assuming all goes well. Singer last pitched on April 26 and threw two innings. It’s feasible that he could make a start in the next few days.

11:15am: The Royals announced a series of roster moves Thursday, most notably optioning right-hander Brady Singer to Triple-A Omaha and placing shortstop Adalberto Mondesi on the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Kyle Isbel and infielder Emmanuel Rivera are up from Omaha in  pair of corresponding moves. Mondesi is dealing with a knee injury, and tests last night revealed some structural damage, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Outside of a brief rehab assignment in 2021, it’ll be the first minor league stint for Singer since 2019, when he was only a year removed from being the No. 18 overall selection in the 2018 draft. Singer made the Royals’ Opening Day roster in 2020 and has been on the big league roster (or injured list) since that time. He looked like a potential fixture in the rotation after a solid rookie showing in 2020, when he pitched to a 4.06 ERA with league-average strikeout and walk rates plus an excellent 53.1% grounder rate in 64 1/3 innings.

The 2021 season didn’t go as smoothly, however. Singer had an up-and-down first half but was generally serviceable prior to the All-Star break, logging a 4.52 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. He was averaging under five innings per appearance, however, and by mid-July his velocity had dipped a bit from its early-season average. Singer was clobbered by the Orioles for seven runs in just two innings on July 17, and the Royals put him on the injured list with shoulder fatigue a couple days later. Singer returned in just under a month, but he didn’t make it through the remainder of the season, as he went back on the injured list in late September with a biceps strain.

Kansas City somewhat surprisingly moved Singer from the rotation to the bullpen this year — a new role for a pitcher who’d started all 39 of his prior big league appearances. The results so far haven’t been great; Singer yielded four runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Manager Mike Matheny said at the time the Royals set their Opening Day rotation that the organization still viewed Singer as a starting pitcher in the long term. It’s possible, then, that Singer will get the opportunity to stretch back out and return to the Majors as a starting pitcher. Kansas City has gotten poor results from both Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernandez, which could open the door for Singer or some of the organization’s other young arms to seize a starting job.

Optioning Singer carries implications beyond the right-hander’s immediate role or even beyond the team’s current rotation mix, however. Because Singer broke camp with the Royals in 2020 and was on the roster all last season, he entered the year with exactly two years of MLB service time. He’d need to spend 172 days on the roster in 2022 to reach three years of service and remain on track for free agency following the 2025 season. If Singer spends more than two weeks in the minors, it’ll push that free-agent eligibility back to the 2026-27 offseason. He’d likely still qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player — barring a particularly lengthy stint in Omaha — but the amount of time he spends in the minors will nonetheless be worth monitoring closely.

As for Mondesi, the knee injury is the latest in a long line of ailments that have kept the talented but increasingly fragile infielder out of the lineup. Mondesi has missed time over the past few seasons with oblique, hamstring, groin and, most notably, shoulder injuries. The shoulder issue proved to be particularly costly, as Mondesi twice suffered a subluxation before undergoing surgery that came with a six-month recovery timeline.

Mondesi played in 59 of the Royals’ 60 games in 2020, but overall from 2019-21, he appeared in just 196 of 384 possible games (51%). There’s no clear timetable for just when Mondesi might rejoin the Royals, but the very mention of structural damage portends a potentially significant time away from the lineup.

In the interim, the Royals are deep in middle-infield options. Bobby Witt Jr. has been playing third base with Nicky Lopez at second base, but both are experienced and more than capable shortstops. Whit Merrifield has been lining up in the outfield more often than not this season but could certainly shift back to second base, with Lopez sliding over to shortstop. That setup could open the door for Isbel — an accomplished minor league hitter who’s yet to solidify himself in the big leagues — to get a larger look in the outfield.

Royals Designate Meibrys Viloria, Scott Blewett For Assignment

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The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve designated catcher Meibrys Viloria and right-hander Scott Blewett for assignment. Their spots on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Kyle Isbel and lefty Jake Brentz, whose contracts have been formally selected from Triple-A Omaha.

Viloria, 24, has spent parts of the past three seasons with the Royals but managed only a combined .215/.266/.287 batting line through 201 trips to the plate. He batted .264/.334/.332 in 248 Double-A plate appearances in 2019 but hasn’t played a game at the Triple-A level, in part due to last year’s canceled minor league season.

Viloria has never been expected to hit much, but he’s regarded as a sound defender with a rocket arm — a trait reflected in his career 34 percent caught-stealing rate. He still has a minor league option remaining, so he could intrigue another club in need of some depth behind the plate.

Blewett, also 24, pitched in just two games last year — his only MLB action to date. He served up a pair of runs in three innings and was tagged for another couple runs in 1 2/3 frames this spring, but he hasn’t gotten much of a look against MLB hitters to date. He’s worked primarily as a starter in the minors and had some modest success up through Class-A Advanced, but Blewett has been hit hard in both Double-A and Triple-A. Though he has solid command, he doesn’t miss bats or induce grounders at a particularly high rate. Like Viloria, he has a minor league option remaining.

The Royals will have a week to trade both players or attempt to pass them through outright waivers.

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