Early spring training start gives underrated Royals catching prospect chance to shine

After a promising start to their spring training campaign on Friday with a 7-3 win over their Surprise Stadium co-inhabitant in the Texas Rangers, the Kansas City Royals will get right back to action on Saturday, this time as the home team against the San Diego Padres.

There were plenty of regulars in their Cactus League opening lineup and while Matt Quatraro's second batting order features a few more reserve names, there's still some intriguing storylines for fans to watch.

One of those, amidst what's gone from a underappreciated role to a suddenly intriguing positional battle, is potential third catcher candidate, Luca Tresh getting the starting nod behind the plate in their spring training home opener.

While determining who the Royals' potential third catcher isn't the most exciting debate to be had, at the end of the day it's still potentially a major league roster spot we're talking about here, so it's certainly worth monitoring and having the discussion.

And while the focus might be on veteran non-roster invitees like Elias Díaz, Jorge Alfaro or Luke Maile (should he be able to return to camp), Tresh has created quite the case for himself in the upper minors in recent years and deserves some attention when determining the order of Kansas City's catching depth chart.

Royals give prospect catcher Luca Tresh spring training start amid battle to determine 2026 catching hierarchy

Now, regardless of whether the Royals opt to run with three catchers again on Opening Day or instead give that bench spot to someone else, they'll need to determine the next catcher up behind Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen, even if it does look unofficial. After all, those two are the only backstops on the 40-man roster at the moment.

And with Díaz and Alfaro's late arrivals to camp, Maile's unfortunate removal from the roster for the time being and the fact none of them are guaranteed to be in the organization beyond spring camp, that role is certainly up in the air.

And there's plenty of reason to believe that Tresh could fill that role to a solid degree.

The 26-year-old doesn't fit the profile of a blue-chip prospect like his catching counterparts in Jensen or Blake Mitchell, that's not what a big league depth catcher requires. Tresh has plenty of qualities that would suit this role well.

Simply looking at his stat line, Tresh performed well in his first taste of Triple-A baseball in Omaha last season, slashing .259/.321/.473 with 10 HR, 37 RBI and an above-average 103 wRC+.

Then, from an underlying metrics perspective, Tresh profiles as hitter capable of making quality and productive contact with a 78th percentile barrel rate and 76th percentile xSLG.

Pair all of this with slightly above-average looking marks in K-rate (58th percentile), whiff rate (53rd percentile) and max exit velocities (60th percentile) and an occasional big league role seems like it could be within the capabilities for Tresh.

While their trio of veteran non-roster invitees may feel like safer big league bets, they haven't exactly set the league on fire in recent years, meaning someone with Triple-A success like Tresh feels as much part of the debate as they do, so long as he performs this spring.