Royals Promote Cuthbert As Moustakas Heads To DL

The Royals struggles continue by losing one of their best two hitters. In the midst of losing eight of their last ten games, the Royals just took another hit with Mike Moustakas thumb injury sending him to the 15-day DL.

The slide has turned a strong 12-6 start into a mediocre 14-14 record. With the White Sox looking like they are for real in the AL Central, the KC Royals need to turn things around before the division gets away from them in 2016.

Right now, both the offense and starting pitching staff aren’t performing up to expectations, which leaves the Kansas City Royals stuck in survival mode. They stole a 7-6 win against the Nationals with a three-run rally in the ninth inning, but immediately returned to their losing ways when the Nats pounded them 13-2.

So much for the hopes of a turnaround.

Moustakas injured the hand on April 26, and BP Kansas City writer Craig Brown took a look at the frustrating timeline.

The frustration is warranted. Through April 26, Moustakas owned a slash of .267/337/.613 with seven homers and five doubles.

After the injury, that dropped to .227/.227/.273 with one extra-base hit. He was obviously hurt, and the Royals allowed him to play six games with the injury.

It is even more frustrating with it being Moustakas, who along with Eric Hosmer, has been the Royals only source of offense in 2016.

More from KC Royals News

• KC Royals Rumors: Is a monster move in the cards?
• KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: 3 Tampa Bay pitchers
• Grading the 2022 KC Royals: The $25 million man
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update

With the Royals already reeling, at least 15 games without Moustakas will only make the road tougher for the team that just dropped to .500 for the first time since July 23, 2014.

However, the injury couldn’t have happened at a better position, with the Royals having more short-term depth at third base than, arguably, any other position.

Christian Colon would be the first option. He has played in place of Moustakas in all three games against Washington, and again last night against Cleveland.

However, Ned Yost threw a wrench into that situation by saying that Colon would start getting more time at second base.

"“Omar has been in this league 13 years now, or pushing 13 years,” Yost said, according to Rustin Dodd. “[That is] a lot of wear and tear. [We’re] just trying to find ways to keep him productive. Sometimes less playing time and more recovery time helps him be more productive. So playing four days a week or three days a week is going to keep him stronger and more productive than playing seven days a week, or even playing five days a week.”"

With Colon being potentially used at second base, the Royals went down to Triple-A Omaha and grabbed Cheslor Cuthbert.

Cuthbert has been grabbing headlines of his own, early in 2016, leaving Omaha with a 1.026 OPS in 24 games, and being second in the PCL with seven homers.

Cheslor has 50 PA with the Royals, slashing .217/.280*/.370 in 19 games last season.

*That OBP might just put him in line for a shot at leading off. Okay, I’ll stop.

Next: Royals Legendary Bullpen Showing Cracks

Cuthbert entered 2016 as the Royals 22nd best prospect, according to Fangraphs and the 12th best, according to MLB.com.