Forgotten Royals infielder from magical 2024 playoff run signs with rival Tigers

Winners of four straight games now and sporting an 8-2 record in their last 10 games, the Kansas City Royals are experiencing a resurgence that has fans excited to watch KC baseball once again. Whether or not they will be able to overcome their dreadfully poor start remains to be seen, but the thought of postseason baseball no longer feels like a pipe dream.

The last time the Royals capitalized on those playoff ambitions was two seasons ago, when they not only made it to October as one of the three AL Wild Card teams, but went on a bit of run before being halted in their tracks by the eventual American League pennant winning New York Yankees in the ALDS. On that series roster was a name that's not the most synonymous with Royals baseball but was a Royal nonetheless in Paul DeJong.

DeJong didn't remain with the Royals after joining them at the 2024 trade deadline and has struggled to really find a place in the MLB since then, with just 57 games with the Washington Nationals to his name since his brief stop at Kauffman Stadium. However, that could be changing in 2026, as after failing to get a big league shot with the Yankees this season, the 32-year-old infielder has signed a minor league deal to return to the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, if DeJong were to crack the Tigers major league roster, he would receive a payday of $1 million.

As mentioned already, DeJong signed with the Yankees this offseason on a minors deal and started the season in Triple-A Scranton before being released on May 1. The veteran infielder didn't look half bad either in the Yankees Triple-A ranks. While his .203 AVG was rather underwhelming, his ability to get on base and hit for extra base power uplifted his OPS to .877 despite his poor average. He was also walking at a very impressive 19.3% clip and was driving in plenty of runs with six homers and 13 RBI. All of this resulted in an above-average 125 wRC+.

Paul DeJong's pedestrian Royals stint won't go down in franchise history

His RailRiders form was certainly not the hitter the Royals got when the acquired him from the Chicago White Sox at the 2024 trade deadline. In 119 plate appearances across 37 games in Kansas City, DeJong slashed just .222/.277/.417 with six homers, 15 RBI as well as a 37.0% K-rate and a 91 wRC+. Not terrible, but certainly nothing to write home about.

And even when push came to shove come the postseason, it was the efforts of Tommy Pham and Yuli Gurriel, whom they picked up around a month later, that factored into their October run more when discussing regular season acquisitions. In fact, DeJong was merely just on the ALDS roster, as he didn't make a single plate appearance in the series. And he wasn't included on their Wild Card Series roster against Baltimore at all.

DeJong will be fondly remembered among some MLB spheres, specifically the St. Louis Cardinals where he made his lone All-Star appearance in 2019 and finished runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting two years prior. However, Kansas City doesn't appear to be the place to hold him in a similar regard. He simply didn't provide much for them in his stay whatsoever.

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