Kansas City Royals: Spring Training roster starting to shrink

The Kansas City Royals have begun the process of shrinking down their Spring Training roster by sending players down into the minor league system.

Fox Sports Kansas City recently reported that the Kansas City Royals had made decisions on a few pitchers that were at Spring Training. They are now down to 59 players on the MLB camp roster.

Three pitchers, Arnaldo Hernandez, Ben Lively, and Jake Newberry, were optioned to Triple A with Omaha. In addition, Jake Kalish and Andres Machado were assigned to minor league camp.

Let’s check out how they fared in the Spring to earn the early dismissal from camp.

Arnaldo Hernandez

Hernandez started one game and appeared in two others, tallying an overall ERA of 7.94. Through a total of 5.2 innings pitched, he yielded ten hits, two home runs, one walk, and struck out six.

The 23 year old was all over the place in 2018, playing for Wilmington, Northwest Arkansas, and Omaha. He also was an Arizona Fall League participant where he notched an ERA of 1.10 through nine appearances.

Ben Lively

The righty, Lively, made four appearances during Spring Training to total 6.0 innings. He tallied an ERA of 3.00, giving up just five hits, three walks, and striking out five. His WHIP for the small sample size sat at 1.33. He has big league experience, having played with the Philadelphia Phillies before coming to the Royals off waivers.

Jake Newberry

Newberry tallied a 1.80 ERA throughout his 5.0 innings of work in Spring Training. Like Lively, he also appeared in four games. He let up five hits, one run, one walk, and recorded four strikeouts. His WHIP in Surprise sat at 1.20.

The 24 year old spent time with the Royals during 2018, and it is very likely he will end up in KC again during 2019, even though he was assigned to the Storm Chasers for the time being.

Jake Kalish

Kalish also took an early exit from MLB camp with the Kansas City Royals, but he will head to Minor League camp. He spent 2018 between Northwest Arkansas and Omaha, but it is seeming likely he will be with the Storm Chasers again in 2019.

He did not see much action in Spring Training. Kalish made just one appearance through the duration of two innings. He yielded one hit and struck out two

Andres Machado

Machado will make the trip with Kalish to Minor League camp. He arguably had the worst showing in Spring Training out of the pitchers that were trimmed from the Royals roster so far.

He appeared in three games for a total of 3.1 innings. Again, small sample size, but he surrendered ten hits, eight earned runs, one home run, and struck out two. That all culminated into an ERA of 21.60 and a WHIP of 3.00.

It’s likely some of these guys will find their way onto the Kansas City Royals roster before the season is over, but for now, they will have to keep clawing their way into the majors and work their way through the minor league system.