KC Royals have plethora of big league veterans in Triple-A after Omaha roster shuffle

While Jac Caglianone has dominated the headlines surrounding the Omaha Storm Chasers in recent days, the Royals Triple-A affiliate continued to make news on Wednesday with a substantial roster shuffle, taking a page out of their affiliated MLB team's book with some roster reconstruction of their own.

The flurry of moves involved four former big leaguers, three of which were added to the roster - in Rich Hill, Cavan Biggio and Luke Maile - and one of whom the organization finally cut ties with - in Nelson Velázquez

Now the Royals find themselves with plenty of former big league talent in the Triple-A ranks, which is never a bad thing to have in your back pocket should the need for increased veteran presence ever arrive.

Rich Hill, Cavan Biggio and Luke Maile are all at KC Royals disposal in Triple-A

The KC Royals already had countless former MLB talent in Triple-A before Wednesday's moves with recent signings like Stephen Nogosek, John Gant and Trevor Richards, along with demoted talent like MJ Melendez occupying space on this roster. But now they have quite the big league surplus on their hands.

After signing a minor league deal with the Royals earlier this month, Rich Hill has spent the past few weeks building himself up in the Arizona Complex League, pitching to mixed results in the process.

In eight innings across two starts, Hill has thrown to a 4.50 ERA, brought down by a rough second start earlier this week. That being said, a brilliant 2025 debut outing has Hill sporting an impressive a 0.88 WHIP and .226 BAA.

Add that to an extensive 20-year MLB career with a solid degree of success, and the Royals now have an impressive veteran sitting just one level below them. Whether their thriving pitching ever declines enough to warrant Hill’s promotion remains to be seen, but he might not a bad tool to have in your tool chest regardless.

Moving to the lineup, after being optioned to the minor leagues, Cavan Biggio opted not to test free agency and accept his minor league assignment.

Unlike many of the major leaguers on the Storm Chasers’ roster, Biggio is still on the 40-man and will hope his time in Omaha sparks a good enough performance to warrant being promoted back to the major league roster before season’s end.

And it will likely take quite the performance for Kansas City to consider calling upon the super utility man again, as Biggio was slashing just .174/.296/.246 with 59 wRC+ in 37 games this season.

Then, after being designated for assignment last week, Luke Maile was activated and will make his return to Omaha.

The 10-year MLB veteran has impressed at every stop he's had in 2025. Before being promoted to the Royals as catching cover earlier this month for the then injured Salvador Perez, Maile was hitting .286 with a .815 OPS and ten RBI across 12 games in Triple-A. Then, after his promotion Maile did everything the Royals asked of him, as (albeit in a limited 10 plate appearance sample size) he slashed .375/.500/.750 in three games.

Given Salvy’s age and Freddy Fermin’s offensive shortcomings, Maile is not a bad name to have as organizational catching depth should the Royals ever require another catcher again.

KC Royals cut ties with Nelson Velázquez

The final move, in order to make room on the roster, saw the Royals cut ties with outfielder Nelson Velázquez.

The 26-year-old, despite showing some of the double-digit pop he has - with six homers in 33 games this season - had largely underperformed in the minors. In 131 plate appearances in Omaha in 2025, Velázquez slashed just .202/.298/.377 with a 78 wRC+.

After being outrighted to the Triple-A during spring training, the writing was essentially on the wall for this move, as signs pointed to Velázquez no longer fitting into the Royals’ plan moving forward.

In parts of two seasons at the big league level with Kansas City (2023-2024), he hit .213 with 22 home runs, 55 RBI and a .734 OPS across 104 games.