2 Royals who deserve promotion to MLB roster, 1 who should be sent to Triple-A

The trade deadline is in the past now, but not before the Kansas City Royals were diligent in finding way to improve this roster's shortcomings, setting themselves up nicely for a possible strong stretch run.

However, as much as they might be basking in the glory of their success on Thursday - especially after one of their marquee acquistions made an immediate impact with Mike Yastrzemski going yard in his first at-bat in his new threads - there could be more ways to imrpve this roster.

Now, obviously with major league trade season over, it'll mainly be up to internal moves to achieve this. Sure the Royals could always turn to the waiver wire like they did with Tommy Pham last season or a potential trade for a name that hasn't yet cracked a team's 40-man roster this season, like they did with Yuli Gurriel in 2024, but there's no guarantee that impactful players like that will present themselves on silver platter this time around.

And frankly, the Royals have solutions in their own backyard can make an impact and still also have some names that may have less of a role to play after a flurry of deadline day activity.

2 Royals who deserve promotion to MLB roster

C - Carter Jensen

I want to preface right off the bat, I'm still in the camp of not rushing Jensen and letting him continue to develop. However, with the way he's adapted to the Triple-A environment so far, he's provided no reason to think he won't be ready for a chance at the majors at some point in 2025, even if it's only a September call-up.

Through his first 24 games and 103 plate apperances in Omaha, the 22-year-old blue-chip prospect is slashing .244/.240/.567 with eight homers, 22 RBI a 12.6% walk-rate and a 129 wRC+.

With Salvador Perez not getting any younger behind the dish and spending more time at first base or in the DH role these days, Jensen is one of the options who could be poised to take over the Royals starting catching role in the near future.

And now that Freddy Fermin is in San Diego and out of the picture, the path for Jensen to reach the majors is as clear as it's ever been.

RHP - Jacob Wallace

Kansas City has had a seemingly revolving door of relievers come through this season with numerous names in their current bullpen starting their respective 2025 season in Omaha.

While the activations of deadline acquisitions in Bailey Falter and Ryan Bergert certainly took priority for active roster spots, should the Royals ever run into the need for more pitching help, Jacob Wallace has been an arm that's proven he could be up to the task of occupying a big league relief role.

The 26-year-old right hander has been on the 7-day IL since the end of June. But should he make a return to the mound before the year's up, his stats have been quite solid in 2025, enough to warrant call-up consideration. In 38.1 innings across 21 outings, Wallace has thrown to a respectable 3.76 ERA along with a 3.25 FIP, 1.07 WHIP and .210 BAA.

While this may only be one season and relief pitching is volatile, Wallace put up respectable numbers across the upper minors last season as well. In 63.2 innings split between Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas in 2024, he threw to a 4.10 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.16 WHIP and .190 BAA along with 12.16 K/9.

Is he likely going to blow anyone away at the major league level? Probably not. But what his numbers prove he's been effective at limiting base runners and avoiding overall damage, which is the top thing any reliever needs to do to succeed.

1 Royals player who should be sent to Triple-A

UTIL - Tyler Tolbert

This may seem harsh, considering he has qualities that make him a useful major league bench piece. He can play multiple positions while also providing absolutely blistering speed.

The bat however is lacking. In 25 plate appearances this season with the Royals, Tolbert is slashing just .208/.240/.333 with a 54 wRC+.

With names like Adam Frazier and Nick Loftin already on the roster, who've proven to be just as versatile with stronger hitting capabilities, is Tolbert's speed really worth keeping him around if bat is falling behind?

There's definitely a promising role player in there, but he needs to have the consistent run to get his bat up to par with his baserunning prowess and defensive versatility, and he's simply not going to get that in Kansas City right now.

He does however scream of a prime candidate to occupy a postseason roster spot when baserunning becomes all the more important, like Terrance Gore provided back in the day.