Kansas City Royals Potential September Call-ups

Sep 25, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Kansas City Royals base runner Terrance Gore (0) scores a run against the Chicago White Sox during the eighth inning at U.S Cellular Field. Kansas City defeats Chicago 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

The Base-Stealing Specialist

I didn’t list AA player Terrance Gore as a “slam dunk” callup, simply because the Kansas City Royals already have two fast backup outfielders in Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando. Also, NW Arkansas has already qualified for the AA playoffs, and the big club might not want to strip their AA team of a major contributor.

KC Kingdom

Terrance Gore has experienced a breakthrough, of sorts at the plate this season, hitting .279/.366/.299 at Northwest Arkansas. That’s a significant improvement for a career .243/.346/.276 minor league hitter. Gore brings another dimension of base-stealing to the table for the Kansas City Royals than even the speedy Jarrod Dyson. The 24-year-old Terrance Gore has swiped 204 bases in the minor leagues, including 68 at Lexington (Full-season A) in 2013.

What’s really impressive about Terrance Gore is his stolen base rate. Opposing teams have caught Gore a mere 19 times while he racked up those 204 career steals. To put this in perspective, Gore’s 91.7% career stolen base rate is better than Hall-of-Fame thief (and all time stolen base leader) Rickey Henderson (80.7%), and Tim Raines (82.4%) when they were minor leaguers. Consider, also, that Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines played BEFORE pitchers widely utilized the slide step (created, in part, to handle the 80’s rabbits).

The 5’7, 160 pound Terrence Gore is an exceptional base running weapon, that might be as good as anyone in baseball history in this one facet of the game.

That’s why I expect to see him with the KC Royals in September, and I also expect him to make the playoff roster. Heck, its also possible Gore DOESN’T get a September call-up, and still wins a spot in October. Management could decide they want him to play in the minor-league playoffs (NW Arkansas won their first-half division title) rather than sit on the bench for the Kansas City Royals.

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