Royals Bullpen Carousel: Everett Teaford Recalled, Donnie Joseph Optioned

July 8, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Everett Teaford (61) pitches during the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Donnie Joseph made his Major League debut on Thursday and appeared in Friday night’s game, and now is headed back to Omaha.

Everett Teaford, who has a 4.27 ERA in 105.1 big league innings with the Royals, was recalled. Bob Dutton reported that the move gives the team a fresh arm for the rest of the Royals pre-All-Star-Break schedule. Teaford has been great in Omaha, with a 2.88 ERA in 59.1 innings for the Storm Chasers. He’s struck out 23% of the batters he’s faced and more than one per inning pitched.

He has been more hittable this year and his GB% is lower than in previous minor league seasons, so he seems to be outperforming the peripheral stats, but even with that considered, his FIP sits at 3.94, which isn’t all that bad. He’ll give the Royals another long relief option, but a word of warning to Ned Yost – while Teaford is a left-handed pitcher, his splits in Omaha this year don’t favor using him as a lefty specialist. In 94 plate appearances, lefties are hitting .333/.426/.481 off of him, though his major league platoon split is better (but still not good for specialization). Lefties and righties get on base at nearly the same rate against Teaford (.320 OBP for righties, .333 OBP for lefties) but right-handed batters slug better (.492 vs. .377).

As for Joseph, he threw 1.1 innings and walked three, but earned his first big league strikeout by freezing Jason Kipnis with a slider. I’m sure he’ll make it back to the big leagues at some point this year to get another look.