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Tyler Cropley

Royals Outright Tyler Cropley

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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.

Royals Select Tyler Cropley

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11:30am: Quatraro tells Anne Rogers of MLB.com that further testing revealed Perez does indeed have a mild concussion.

10:25am: The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Tyler Cropley. He will take the active roster spot of Salvador Perez, who has been placed on the seven-day concussion list, retroactive to September 17. To open a spot on the 40-man, catcher Freddy Fermin was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Perez departed Saturday’s game after being struck in the mask by a foul ball. The Royals later announced that he had avoided a concussion, with manager Matt Quatraro saying that the backstop “got his bell rung a little bit” but felt fine after the game. It now seems that either the situation has changed or the club is merely deciding to be cautious in the late stages of a lost season.

The club will now be without its two primary catchers from this season, at least for a few games, as Fermin suffered a fracture of his right middle finger earlier this month. He underwent surgery last week and is done for the season, making his transfer to the 60-day injured list an expected formality.

With Perez and Fermin both unavailable, Cropley will get back to the majors. He was briefly selected to the club’s roster earlier this month when Fermin suffered his injury but he was designated for assignment a few days later, without getting into a game, when Logan Porter was promoted. He cleared waivers and was outrighted, allowing him to rejoin the roster today. At least for the time being, it seems as though Porter and Cropley will be sharing the catching duties.

Aside from that brief time on the big league roster, Cropley has split his time between Double-A and Triple-A this year. He has walked in 11.5% of his plate appearances and hit a combined .233/.329/.367 for a wRC+ of 87. He’ll make his major league debut as soon as he is put into a game.

Royals Outright Tyler Cropley

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Sept. 13: Cropley passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Omaha, the Royals announced Wednesday. He’ll remain in the organization, as he does not have the prior outright or three years of MLB service needed to reject an assignment.

Sept. 11: The Royals announced that catcher Tyler Cropley has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to Logan Porter, whose upcoming promotion was reported yesterday.

The club has Salvador Perez as its main backstop but was also giving plenty of playing time to Freddy Fermin this year, with Perez spending some time at first base of late. Unfortunately, Fermin suffered a fracture in his right middle finger, forcing the Royals to find another backup. MJ Melendez came up as a catcher but doesn’t seem to be considered a realistic option there. Back in May, manager Matt Quatraro said they were going to keep him in the outfield in order to let him focus on his hitting and he hasn’t been behind the plate since.

Cropley had his contract selected on the weekend but has now been quickly designated for assignment without getting into a game, replaced by Porter. Prior to being selected Cropley was in Double-A while Porter was in Triple-A. On the surface, it’s a strange move to have added Cropley before Porter and then pivot two days later, but it’s possible it’s related to the schedule. The Royals were in Toronto this weekend and it has been speculated that Cropley had his passport ready to go while Porter did not. That’s not confirmed but it would make sense of why Cropley was selected and then quickly removed from the roster once the club crossed back over the Canadian border.

Whatever the reasons, Cropley got a very brief taste of major league life, albeit as a passive observer. Since the trade deadline has now passed, he will be placed on waivers in the coming days. In 43 Double-A games this year, he’s hit .234/.329/.359 for a wRC+ of 86.

Royals Make Four Roster Moves

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The Royals announced that Brad Keller has been reinstated from the club’s 60-day injured list, and that catcher Tyler Cropley’s contract has been selected from Double-A Arkansas.  In corresponding moves, Kansas City placed left-hander Austin Cox on the 60-day IL with a left knee sprain, and catcher Freddy Fermin will go on the 10-day IL due to a fracture in his right middle finger.

The 60-day placement will end Cox’s season, though suffering “only” a sprain might be something of a relief given the obvious pain on the southpaw’s face when he suffered the injury in Friday’s game.  Cox was running to cover first base on a grounder when a bad step caused his left leg to give out, and he had to be helped off the field.

It’s a rough end to Cox’s first Major League season.  A fifth-round pick for the Royals in the 2018 draft, Cox made his MLB debut in May and has a 4.79 ERA over 35 2/3 innings, working out of the bullpen in 21 of his 24 appearances (though he functioned as an opener in one of his three starts).  Cox’s strikeout (22.1%) and walk (11.4%) rates aren’t overly impressive, though he has done an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two homers all season.

Fermin’s injury also must have been a recent occurrence, as he was the starting catcher throughout Friday’s game, a 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays.  After a three-game cup of coffee in 2022, the rookie has gotten a longer look this year, appearing in 70 games and hitting .281/.321/.461 with nine home runs over 235 plate appearances.  This solid play has increasingly given Fermin more time behind the plate, as Salvador Perez has been used more often as a first baseman or DH over the last five weeks.

Perez figures to return to regular catching duty with Fermin out, and MJ Melendez could also get some playing time even though he has primarily been used in an outfield role.  Since K.C. seems to prefer Melendez as an outfielder, it opens the door for Cropley to get his first taste of the big leagues after five pro seasons.

Cropley was an eighth-round pick for the Nationals in the 2018 draft, and he has the spent the last three years in the Kansas City organization.  The 27-year-old has a modest .235/.329/.359 slash line over 168 PA for Arkansas this season and he has never played any Triple-A ball, so the Royals could be viewing Cropley purely as a depth option in Fermin’s absence.

After posting a 4.36 ERA over his first nine starts and 43 1/3 innings of the season, Keller was sidelined with right shoulder impingement syndrome in mid-May and is only now returning to the K.C. rotation.  He’ll get the chance to log a few more appearances before the season is out, and perhaps take his final bows in a Royals uniform since Keller is a free agent this winter.  The right-hander has a 5.12 ERA over 316 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 season, and with this injury-marred season on his record, Keller may have difficulty finding a guaranteed big league contract from the Royals or any other team.

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