Kansas City Royals Call Up Carlos Pena, Johnny Giavotella, Donnie Joseph, Pedro Ciriaco

Carlos Pena (Photo: Minda Haas)

Bob Dutton tweeted that he’d heard that four players would be promoted from Omaha to Kansas City. The moves were just confirmed and announced by the Royals.

The four players are:

• 1B Carlos Pena
• 2B Johnny Giavotella
• IF Pedro Ciriaco
• LHP Donnie Joseph

Also returning to the big league team are pitchers Louis Coleman and Wade Davis, who had been sent to Wilmington last week to make room for Danny Duffy and a returning Luke Hochevar. Wilmington’s season ended on Monday, enabling both pitchers to come back ahead of the usual 10 day requirement for a minor league assignment.

Pena was instrumental in the Storm Chasers’ final week as they worked to return to the PCL playoffs. In five games, Pena got six hits, homered twice, tripled, drove in six, and walked four times. Omaha won three of the five games.

Both Pena and Ciriaco needed to be added to the 40 man roster, and Dutton guessed correctly that Noel Arguelles would be moved to the 60 day disabled list to make room. Edinson Rincon was designated for assignment to make room as well.

Obviously, that guts Omaha for their playoff run. They start play tomorrow in the first round of the PCL playoffs. It seems that Ryan Verdugo and Mitch Canham will return to Omaha (Verdugo had been on a rehab assignment in Double A and Canham had been up briefly earlier this year). Third base prospect Cheslor Cuthbert is also a potential fill in. Cuthbert opened the year in Wilmington and was promoted to Double A in June. He struggled but in August, he cut his strikeouts, hit for power, and drew more walks, so those are good signs that he was more comfortable with the competition.

So far, though, no moves to refill Omaha’s roster have been announced.

Absent are Yordano Ventura and Christian Colon from this group of call ups. Both would have to be added to the 40 man roster first, which would require additional moves. The Royals may simply be waiting for the Storm Chasers to be eliminated. Ventura is the scheduled starter for tomorrow’s PCL playoff opener.