KC Royals should be looking into this free agent with 'high buy-low upside'

After coming out of nowhere to be legitimate postseason contenders in 2024, the Kansas City Royals are looking to round out their roster to go back-to-back in 2025. It's been 10 years since they last won the World Series, so what better time than right now to turn the jets on and go all-in?

So far, this offseason has been fairly quiet for the Royals, but they've made a pair of necessary roster moves to position themselves for another run at the playoffs in '25. Brady Singer was sent to the Reds for Jonathan India and Michael Wacha was re-signed to a three-year contract, but there's still more to do.

In a recent piece penned by Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, outfielder Austin Hays was mentioned as a free agent with "huge buy-low upside," and he feels like a prime Royals target if there ever was one.

Austin Hays feels like a prime free agent target for the Royals

Hays fits the bill for an ideal Royals target in multiple ways. He's cheap, he has a track record of success in the big leagues, and he hits right-handed. As of right now, the Royals have a lefty-heavy outfield with MJ Melendez and Kyle Isbel both penciled into starting roles in their 2025 lineup.

Adding Hays into the mix would give them a right-handed batter who absolutely annihilates left-handed pitching. This past season, he hit .255 with a .699 OPS through 85 games split between the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies, but his R-L splits provide a whole lot more optimism.

Against southpaws, Hays hit .354 with a .941 OPS while hitting just .203 with a .569 OPS against same-handed pitching. This continues a career-long trend for him where he sees the ball so much better against lefties than righties. To some teams, the wide gap between the two may be a turn-off, but for the Royals, he'd fit right in.

Reuter projects Hays will land a one-year, $8.5 million contract on the free agent market. He's a clear buy-low candidate that won't cost a whole lot of money, so the Royals may be better off targeting someone like him rather than going big with a signing of Anthony Santander or Jurickson Profar, both of whom will be commanding multi-year pacts.

Hays struggled mightily in a 22-game stint on the Phillies in the second half of 2024, but all of this can be chalked up to a nasty kidney infection that sapped his energy and made him almost completely unable to adequately play baseball on a nightly basis. He's reportedly good to go for 2025, so the bounce-back potential is sky-high. If the Royals can get him for a contract even close to the one Reuter predicted, it could be one of the steals of the offseason.