KC Royals Trades: Club grabs new major league pitcher

The KC Royals still haven't, and probably won't, make an earth-shattering MLB Trade Deadline deal, but they supplemented their pitching corps this morning with a player-for-cash deal involving the Los Angeles Angels.

The trade, confirmed by the club via X, fills with lefthanded reliever Tucker Davidson the spot in the pen vacated Monday when the Royals dealt José Cuas to the Cubs for outfielder Nelson Velázquez.

The Royals will place Davidson, 27, on the 26-man big league roster, so he'll be available tonight when they open a three-game series with the Mets at Kauffman Stadium.

What do KC Royals fans need to know about reliever Tucker Davidson?

Davidson doesn't bring overwhelming statistics to Kansas City. He was 1-1 with a concerning 6.54 ERA and a pair of saves in 18 relief appearances for the Angels when the clubs consummated this morning's trade, and had surrendered 25 runs (23 earned) in 31.2 innings. Before being designated for assignment by the Angels last week, he'd pitched only twice for them in July, giving up two runs in 1,1 innings against San Diego July 3 and an unearned run to the Astros in another 1.1-inning stint July 15.

He's 3-9, 6.15 in parts of four big league seasons and pitched for Atlanta in 2020 and 2021 before the Braves traded him to Los Angeles last August. A 19th-round choice of Atlanta in the 2016 amateur draft, Davidson owns a much more respectable 3.09 career minor league ERA, but a 25-33 record.

Davidson's current eclectic pitch assortment includes a slider, splitter, sweeper, and four-seam fastball, and he's occasionally thrown a changeup and curveball in the past.

Although he's worked only out of the bullpen this season, manager Matt Quatraro could squeeze a start out of him now and then—before this season, he'd started all but one of his 17 big league outings. He also started Game 5 of the 2021 World Series for the Braves.

What, if any, additional deals the Royals mght make before this afternoon's 5 p.m. CDT trade deadline remains to be seen.