KC Royals must bump slugging outfield prospect to Triple-A to begin 2025

Free agent Teoscar Hernández's recent decision to spurn all suitors and re-sign with the star-heavy Los Angeles Dodgers leaves the Kansas City Royals still saddled with one of the worst-hitting outfields in the major leagues. The Royals did acquire outfielder Joey Wiemer earlier this winter, but that addition currently resembles a big league depth move more than anything else. Now, with options to juice up the club's outfield offense narrowing, general manager J.J. Picollo can't ignore looking in his own backyard.

Picollo needs to move Gavin Cross — Kansas City's first selection in the 2022 MLB Draft — up the organization's ladder. It's time for Cross to jump from Double-A Northwest Arkansas to Triple-A Omaha to begin the 2025 season.

Such a move, which Picollo could and should be contemplating, won't immediately solve the maddeningly conspicuous offensive woes that so seriously plagued left fielder MJ Melendez, center fielder Kyle Isbel, and right fielder Hunter Renfroe last season. But bumping Cross up to Omaha will give him more seasoning, accustom him to better pitching, and prepare him to take on a big league role sooner rather than later.

Gavin Cross needs to be ready in case the KC Royals need him

That says it all. The Royals have repeatedly tried Drew Waters, the former Atlanta Braves' top prospect they traded for in 2022 who has hit well in the minors but is batting only .229 in 137 major league games. John Rave's 21 homers and .346 OBP with Omaha in 2024 shows he has some power and knows how to get on base, but he's spent parts of the last three seasons at Omaha and went unprotected (and unclaimed) in this year's Rule 5 Draft, suggesting he may not be in Kansas City's major league plans.

Then there's Cross, Kansas City's top choice and ninth overall in the 2022 draft. The left-handed batting outfielder impressed with good stops in the Arizona Complex League and at Single-A Columbia later that summer that earned him a promotion to High-A Quad Cities to start the 2023 campaign. Illness struck him hard that year, though, and although he managed to hit 12 homers, he finished his 94-game campaign with a disappointing .206/.300/.383 line that included a pair of hitless games at Northwest Arkansas.

Cross returned to Double-A in 2024 and bounced back nicely. Finding his way on base at a vastly improved .342 OBP clip, he hammered a career-best 15 homers, drove in 59 runs in 101 games, and stole a career-high 30 bases to go with the 23 he swiped in 2022 and again in 2023.

Still a work in progress at the plate — he tends to strike out too much — but owner of excellent power potential, Cross seems to hold his own in the outfield and could be better defensively than Melendez. Should the Royals be prepping him to assume a starting role early next season?

Probably not. He might be close, but Cross, who MLB Pipeline considers Kansas City's sixth-best prospect, requires more refinement and fine-tuning before he's ready for an everyday major league job. Tyler Gentry, Pipeline's No. 15 KC prospect, is the better choice if the club must look soon to its minor league system for an immediate big league outfield fix. He's homered 53 times across his last three seasons and boasts a four-year career .378 OBP and .273 average.

But that doesn't mean Cross isn't close behind. The Royals need to get him ready, and beginning the season at Omaha is the best way to do just that.