KC Royals: 3 good candidates for 2 September callups

After impressively concluding a six-game homestand by battering San Diego 15-7 Sunday, the KC Royals take today off before visiting the White Sox for three and the Tigers for four. While the players do whatever players do on an off day, others in the organization have decisions to make.

Thursday is Sept. 1, which means all big league clubs, including the Royals, will add two players to their active rosters for the rest of the season.

Who will Kansas City add? To say the Royals have needs understates the obvious—the rotation and bullpen are, in polite terms, shaky and inconsistent. The lineup doesn’t include enough strong bats, although that problem will self-solve as Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey and Nick Pratto further develop and refine their hit tools.

But because the Royals are 52-77 and flirting once again with their third 100 loss campaign in the last four full seasons, filling immediate needs isn’t the highest priority. This is a team fighting to do little more than avoid losing 100 games and finishing in last place.

The KC Royals should use their two additional spots to evaluate players.

Instead, this is the time to take a month-plus look (the season doesn’t end until Oct. 5) at a couple of players the club might want to consider for next year’s roster.

Remembering the Royals will add a pitcher to reach the expanded 14-hurler limit, and a position player, who might be good candidates for the two available spots?

Let’s find out.

The KC Royals have some good pitching prospects. One needs a callup.

Because they can start carrying another pitcher Thursday, the Royals will add one to their troubled mix of hurlers. Don’t look for them to summon Asa Lacy or Frank Mozzicato, the latest pitchers they’ve taken in the first round of the draft. It’s far too early for 2021 pick Mozzicato, who’s working at Low-A Columbia, and Lacy’s well-chronicled early career struggles continue.

And KC doesn’t need to try Triple-A Omaha’s Gabe Speier, Ronald Bolaños, or Jackson Kowar. The former two are known quantities, the latter needs to finish his season removed from big league pressures as he toils to regain good form after a few brutal shots at the majors.

Austin Cox should be KC’s choice. A move we’ve floated before in this space, it’s a good time to see what he can do at the highest level, especially because the club faces a Rule 5 Draft decision on him this winter.

Cox won the first game of Omaha’s doubleheader Sunday, giving up four runs and striking out five in seven innings, and is 5-7 with a 4.57 ERA after going 4-1, 4.10 in a 2021 season split between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Omaha. It’s not a spectacular record, and he’s fallen out of MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 KC prospects rankings (he was 16th before Pipeline’s recent revisions), but because he’s 25 and in his fourth professional season, the Royals need to acquire a strong sense for how their fifth-round 2018 draft selection might handle big league bats.

A longer look at this prospect might help the KC Royals solve their infield puzzle.

Kansas City called up Maikel García to help offset the loss of 10 unvaccinated Royals for a mid-July series at Toronto; he batted once before the club, already well-stocked with infielders, returned him to Northwest Arkansas when the 10 came back.

He revisited Kansas City just days later and went 7-for-19 before the club optioned him again, this time to Omaha, then spent another few days with the big club before heading back to Triple-A.

Undaunted by the back-and-forth, the young infielder rated KC’s seventh-best prospect by MLB Pipeline continues to hit well for the Storm Chasers. After going 4-for-9, belting a grand slam, and driving in six runs in the Chasers’ twinbill sweep of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Sunday, García is slashing .293/.326/.561 with six homers and 22 RBIs in 18 games since joining Omaha; add his .291/.369/.409 line and four home runs at NWA to the mix, and he’s slashing .291/.361/.440 with 10 homers and 55 RBIs.

His numbers merit recalling García, but good performance isn’t the only reason to bring him back up. The Royals know he can hit—now they need to determine whether he can help solve the puzzle that’s their infield.

While first base seems set with Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino, shortstop, second and third remain open questions. Manager Mike Matheny has Bobby Witt Jr., Hunter Dozier, and Nicky Lopez switching back and forth at third, Witt, Lopez and, when he’s up, García getting time at short, and Lopez and Michael Massey sharing second, although Massey is solidifying his claim there.

All are good players. But the regular infield the Royals must settle on should include García, who’s a better natural hitter than Lopez but needs some work defensively. García may be the long term answer at short—although it’s Witt’s “natural” position, Kansas City hasn’t been reluctant to play Witt at third, and an infield including him at the hot corner, Massey at second and García between them has promise. Lopez, his .300 season of last year looking more and more like an outlier (he’s hitting .241), could be a valuable backup.

Now is the perfect time to gauge the viability of that concept. Call up Garcia, J.J. Picollo and Dayton Moore, and try that infield setup.

Which two players should the KC Royals add to their active roster this Thursday?

This decision is hard. But with pitching something the Royals desperately need, they should give Cox a shot in the rotation. Zack Greinke will miss at least part of September on the Injured List, so there’s room for Cox to see some action. And there’s another Rule 5 decision coming for Cox—the Royals left him unprotected for last year’s Rule 5 (that ultimately didn’t occur), so they ought to evaluate him against big league hitting before determining what to do with him.

The club will have to open up a 40-man roster spot if they promote Cox. Letting Ryan O’Hearn go to accomplish that is certainly, and should be, a possibility.

García warrants the other spot. He’s an infielder of the future, and establishing him at shortstop, with Bobby Witt Jr. at third and Michael Massey at second, with versatile Nicky Lopez playing a reserve role, makes sense. Bringing García up Thursday gives these players several weeks to work together. And he’s already on the 40-man roster.

That leaves Hicklen the odd man out. The Royals didn’t protect him for last year’s Rule 5 draft, so he may not be in their long-range plans. They could protect him by adding him to the 40-man this winter, but the club might end up hunting for an established big league outfielder in free agency or on the trade market. And Hicklen could be a decent offseason trade chip.

And should Kansas City want Hicklen after promoting Cox and Garcia, nothing prevents it from opening up another roster spot.

We’ll know Thursday who Kansas City adds to its roster.