Kansas City Royals: Impact of Kelvin Gutierrez’s season-ending injury

The Kansas City Royals will have to turn to someone else when rosters expand as Kelvin Gutierrez is out for the remainder of the season.

Kelvin Gutierrez was looking like a prime candidate to be brought up when rosters expanded on September 1. Instead, he’ll have to wait until next season for a potential call up to the Kansas City Royals as the 25-year old will miss the rest of the season. Gutierrez broke his toe earlier this month and hasn’t played since August 17th.

He was having perhaps the best month of all hitting prospects, slashing 0.361/0.412/0.574 with 3 home runs and 15 RBI’s in 15 games for Triple-A Omaha. The third base position has been underwhelming at best for the big league roster as Hunter Dozier, Cheslor Cuthbert, Chris Owings and even Gutierrez have all seen time at the position in 2019.

Gutierrez was brought up a couple of times earlier this season in spot starts for injured players. Cuthbert, 26, has been extremely underwhelming this season slashing just 0.247/0.286/0.382 in 72 games for the Royals. He recently snapped an 0-for-40 streak with a double on the last road trip. I was hoping that Gutierrez would get an opportunity to snag the permanent third base gig in September but now we’ll have to wait until Spring Training to see if he can do so.

It’s unfortunate for Gutierrez, but with him headed to the injured list, the Royals can bring up another infielder to get a look at. I recently mentioned that Erick Mejia would be a good choice to call up on September 1 and he’s played all over the place in Triple-A, including third base. Mejia is slashing 0.270/0.339/0.382 with 21 doubles, 6 triples, 7 home runs, and 62 RBI’s this season and should be the next man up, literally.

With all of the infielders the Royals have, they will need to start to determine who is worth keeping around. Unless Whit Merrifield is dealt in the offseason for prospects, he’s a lock on this roster. Then between Adalberto Mondesi, Nicky Lopez, Humberto Arteaga, Cuthbert, Dozier, Gutierrez, and now potentially Mejia, the infield is starting to look pretty crowded, to say the least.