KC Royals Injury Update: Hunter Harvey and Michael Massey set for rehab assignments

It's been a busy month so far for the Kansas City Royals, between All-Star festivities, kicking off their trade deadline and starting July with an 8-4 record.

Now as the second-half of the season gets underway on Friday, the Royals could be in store for a pair of reinforcements in the near future, as the team announced that Hunter Harvey was set to begin his rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League on Thursday, while Michael Massey is set to start his rehab assignment on Friday in Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Friday.

KC Royals Injury Update: Hunter Harvey's road to long-awaited return begins in Arizona Complex League

The KC Royals have been here before with Hunter Harvey as he's seemed on the verge of a return but subsequently faced set backs on multiple occasions this season after initially being placed on the injured list back on April 11.

Injuries have been the overarching narrative of Harvey's tenure with the Royals, as since he was acquired ahead of the 2024 MLB trade deadline he's appeared in just 11.0 innings across 12 games in total.

This means Royals fans will likely have there expectations tempered with Harvey until he not only makes his return, but manages to string together a stretch longer than six games.

It should be noted, that when Harvey is healthy and on the mound this season, he's been excellent, throwing to a perfect 0.00 ERA along with a 1.29 FIP, 0.19 WHIP and .059 BAA. When he returns and (fingers crossed) he can stay healthy he could immediately insert himself back into that late-inning fold alongside All-Star closer Carlos Estévez and reliable set-up arm Lucas Erceg.

His latest rehab is in fact underway now, as on Thursday with the ACL Royals the veteran righty threw an inning of scoreless, one-hit ball.

The next logical step in his build up might be another appearance in the ACL but definitely a few outings at the very least in the upper minors with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and/or Triple-A Omaha.

KC Royals Injury Update: Michael Massey is back rehabbing in Double-A

Shifting gears to Massey, to classify him as reinforcement could be an oxymoron, given just how detrimental his performance has been to this Royals lineup so far in 2025.

Before hitting the IL in early June with an ankle sprain, Massey looked dreadful at the plate with Kansas City slashing just .202/.221/.258 with two home runs, 14 RBI, a 25 wRC+ and -1.1 fWAR.

But before suffering a "pause" in his initial rehab in Triple-A, as Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg reported earlier this month, Massey looked more like the the 103 wRC+ hitter he was back in 2024. In 15 plate appearances across five games in Omaha, he was slashing .417/.533/.667 with a 219 wRC+.

After seeing the Royals trade for a depth "upgrade" in utility man Adam Frazier on Wednesday, even if Massey returns and isn't the slightly above average bat he was a year ago and is a bench option that hits more for a similar 80-range wRC+ like Frazier, that would still constitute an upgrade for the Royals.