Cardinals discard recent Royals playoff pest as brutal 2025 season continues

While the Kansas City Royals may be focused on their current chaotic hunt for a second-consecutive postseason berth, news pertaining to them continues to go on throughout the league.

In fact another team on the fringe of a Wild Card race are the St. Louis Cardinals - who may be a little further out from their respective Wild Card spot than the Royals are from theirs, as they sit 4.5 games back of the New York Mets - made some roster moves on Monday to optimize their MLB roster.

One of these moves sees an old friend of the Royals on the move again, as in order to make room on the 40-man roster for the selection of Nick Raquet's contract, the Cardinals designated Garrett Hampson for assignment.

Former Royals utility-man Garrett Hampson DFA'd by Cardinals

This isn't Hampson's first rodeo being DFA'd this season. After starting the year in Arizona, Hampson would be cut by the D-Backs in May. He'd then latch on with the Cincinnati Reds for roughly a month before he was designated for assignment once again and claimed off waivers by the Cardinals.

Like a majority of his stops this season, Hampson's time with the Royals' I-70 rivals was disappointing. In just 31 plate appearances across 35 games, he'd only manage to slash .103/.133/.138 with a -28 wRC+.

And unfortunately for Hampson, his 2025 campaign as whole has continued the pattern of below average seasons at the plate that he's held for virtually his entire career. In 91 big league plate appearances in total this year, Hampson is hitting just .143 with a .419 OPS and a 25 wRC+.

The term "old-friend" may be a bit of a stretch when referring to Hampson and the Royals, because much like his 2025 campaign, there was little to be excited about when he was with Kansas City.

In 231 plate appearances across 113 games last season, Hampson slashed just .230/.275/.300 with no homers, 16 RBI and a 60 wRC+.

His tenure in Kansas City wasn't without any highlights though, as he did manage to be a productive bench bat in the Royals tightly-contested ALDS series against the New York Yankees. He would act as a pesky out, going 3-for-3 in the series with a walk, a run scored and three RBI.

Whether or not Hampson will find another team in the final three weeks of the season remains to be seen, but there's always going to be value in a veteran that can play multiple positions that also has a bit of speed to his name - even if his bat is struggling to keep up.