KC Royals: 3 needed additions to the 40-man roster

With 2020 in the review mirror for the KC Royals, building on the last part of the season and adding quality players to the 40-man roster is needed.

One area the KC Royals improved this year was allowing young talent to grow. Many times in the past it appeared that prospects were not called up in order to obtain as much team control as possible before free agency. This year’s decision to have Brady Singer, Tyler Zuber, and Kris Bubic join the major league roster is hopefully a shift in the club’s thinking.

Singer and Bubic proved they were up to the challenge by at the very least meeting expectations, if not exceeding them. This should open the door for other promising youngsters to get their chances.

It will be tempting to some to include Bobby Witt Jr. and Asa Lacy to this list—their ceilings seem unlimited, after all. Because of their little, or in Lacy’s case no, experience in the minor leagues, it is wise to let them begin the season with an affiliate unless they plow through the competition and the Royals have a need at their positions.

The first players that should be considered have had success at the minor league level and will be able to help in areas that Kansas City needs. Having a few veterans sprinkled on the 40-man roster is wise, but signing them this offseason as a security blanket instead of giving the future of the club an opportunity will not breed confidence in the players or the fans.

Being added to the 40-man roster does not mean they have to start the year in the majors but it does ensure they can be called up if needed without making multiple other roster moves. There are some obvious targets to remove from the current alignment, which should make these decisions easy.

The way Mike Matheny and staff allowed the aforementioned players, along with allocating big league experience to Edward Olivares, Nick Heath, and Carlos Hernandez, should pay dividends soon.

Despite not having pitched above the Advanced-A level in professional baseball, this southpaw has shown a tremendous upside.

Coming off a Rising Star award in the Arizona Fall League in 2019, left-handed starting pitcher Daniel Lynch was also a non-roster invitee to the KC Royals’ Arizona spring training camp in 2020. He was then selected after summer camp for the club’s 60-man Player Pool and spent the rest of the summer working with the Kansas City’s other non-major leaguers at the team’s alternate training site as well.

While not having gaudy stats with the University of Virginia, Lynch was still a sought-after arm and was selected just one pick behind Kowar in the 2018 amateur draft. He really put himself on the radar playing for Orleans in the Cape Cod League in 2017, going 4-0 with a minuscule 0.92 WHIP.

He has blown through minor league competition in 32 career starts, posting a 2.50 ERA, 157 punch-outs in 147.2 innings, and a WHIP of 1.19. He has only allowed six home runs in that time.

Depending on what happens with Danny Duffy, the KC Royals may require a left-hander to offset the righty-dominated starting rotation. Lynch would be a nice fit throwing a couple of games behind Kris Bubic to keep other teams from loading up with lefty hitters every time they face Kansas City.

One appropriate scenario could be that Duffy begins the year in the rotation but, if he becomes shaky like he was in 2020, Lynch gets the call-up from the minor leagues while Duffman moves to the Royals’ bullpen where he could be a nice asset.

The outfield could be very wide open for the KC Royals in 2020 and a player with four years of professional experience might be an answer.

When it comes to the outfield, there are a couple of minor league players in the Kansas City organization that immediately come to mind when thinking about what additions to make to the Royals’ 40-man roster heading into the 2021 season. Kyle Isbel and Seuly Matias definitely come to mind.

One other good player has Double-A experience and could very well be ready to make the jump sooner, and that is Khalil Lee. The combination of the 22-year old, 5-foot-10, 170-pound outfielder’s speed and mid-level power makes Lee a player definitely worth taking a look at some time during next season.

The strikeouts are concerning, but despite those he still reached base at a .363 clip during the 2019 season playing for the club’s Northwest Arkansas Double-A affiliate. The left-handed swinging and throwing Lee also stole an incredible 53 bases that season, and these two key attributes will be coveted in Kansas City.

Lee, selected by the KC Royals with the 26th pick in the third round of baseball’s 2016 amateur draft out of Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia (he was the 103rd overall selection), can probably benefit from getting a bit more seasoning on the farm to start the 2021 season, but with so many questions to be answered in Kansas City’s outfield, he could play his way onto the team with a good spring training. Either way, the Royals need to add him to the 40-man roster so they have the option to easily use him if he’s needed.

Next season is viewed by many as a time the KC Royals pull themselves out of the bottom of the standings and become competitive deep into the year even if they do not make the playoffs.  Winning with the future of the franchise—the near future—makes more sense than granting playing time to those players whose time has passed.