Royals MiLB: Nick Tepesch To AAA, Reymond Fuentes Released

The Royals assigned pitcher Nick Tepesch to AAA Omaha and released outfielder Reymond Fuentes after both cleared waivers on Friday. Kansas City designated both players for assignment on September 6.

The Kansas City Royals claimed 27-year-old Nick Tepesch off waivers from the A’s in July. Tepesch went to college at Missouri, and graduated from Blue Springs High School in 2007. He’s been with the A’s, Rangers, and Dodgers organizations this season as well as Kansas City.

Tepesch has made 40 major league starts, with his best season coming in 2014 when he went 5-11 with a 4.36 ERA in 22 starts with the Rangers. He has a 4.68 ERA in 223.0 career innings pitched with a meager 5.4 K/9. Tepesch relies on getting ground balls and keeping the ball in the park to succeed.

However, his low 90’s heat doesn’t excite many teams, which is why multiple clubs have released him this season. His bread and butter pitch is his 91.0 mph sinker. The KC Royals are apparently interested in him as veteran rotation depth for the 2017 season. I doubt he will ever eat significant innings for his hometown team.

Tepesch is going to need to add a new, effective pitch for him to alter his career path.

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Meanwhile, 25-year-old Reymond Fuentes has spent two seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization after they claimed the former no. 1 draft pick off waivers from the San Diego Padres. Fuentes opened the 2016 on the Kansas City roster, hitting .317/.364/.341 in 44 plate appearances.

Unfortunately for Fuentes, his .254/.325/.317 slash line at AAA Omaha wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in the Kansas City system. With prospects Jorge Bonifacio and Hunter Dozier enjoying breakout seasons in Omaha, and the team adding speedy Billy Burns, there just didn’t seem much of a place for Fuentes in the organization.

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The biggest problem for the speedy Fuentes, is he just doesn’t get on base enough to be a truly useful player in major-league baseball.