Playing Catch Up: Royals Weekend News

The MLB Draft took up a lot of the attention this week but the Royals made some moves and announced updates on a couple of injured players.

Apr 14, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson (1) slides into third base with a lead off triple against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

First, the injury news, as Jarrod Dyson is taking part in a rehab assignment in Omaha. The Royals say they want him to get 20-35 plate appearances there. He’s currently coming back from a high ankle sprain and despite tweaking it a few days ago, hasn’t missed any time. It will be interesting to see what happens once he’s completed the rehab assignment though. David Lough replaced him and has provided a bit of energy to the team, making some good plays in the outfield (though a couple of bad ones as well) and getting hits in five of the seven games he’s played in this month. Jeff Francoeur was losing time to Dyson at the time of the injury and is now losing time to Lough as well. Lough has played well enough to stay with the big league team, Dyson was playing well when he started to platoon with Francoeur, and Francoeur has been mostly awful all season.

Dyson is out of options so the Royals will be faced with the choice of Lough vs. Francoeur.

Danny Duffy has already started making rehab starts, and now, Felipe Paulino is prepared to do the same. He’ll start out in Double A and looks to get 75 pitches in. He’s about a month behind Duffy (since his surgery was a month after Duffy’s). Speaking of Duffy, his first Omaha rehab start is on Monday.

The Royals claimed third baseman Edinson Rincon off waivers from the San Diego Padres. Rincon was injured in spring training and hasn’t started coming back yet. The Royals optioned him to Northwest Arkansas where he’ll start when he returns from a knee injury. He has a little bit of power and isn’t in anyone’s way right now.

To make room for him, the Royals designated Nate Adcock for assignment. Adcock has a 3.79 ERA in 95 big league innings but has struggled in Triple A this year with a 7.09 ERA and a 1.872 WHIP. He’ll probably clear waivers and be stuck back in Omaha, but won’t be on the 40 man roster. The Royals also released Double A outfielder Carlo Testa. He had a .541 OPS in Double A.

Kyle Smith, who might end up in Double A pretty soon, was named to the Carolina League’s All-Star team. Smith has thrown 61 innings in 11 starts, putting up a 1.92 ERA and 1.115 WHIP while striking out nearly a quarter of the batters he’s faced.

Finally, how about some fun? A young Royals fan made a quick play on a ball tossed to a female fan between innings, much to her surprise.

http://youtu.be/cqG_41wS-W8

Sign that kid up.