Royals' new signing already showing why Yankees cut him loose this season

It's a new week and the Royals made yet another veteran depth signing to bolster their minor league depth.

Now "bolster" might be a strong word to use when discussing the Royals acquiring right-handed reliever Geoff Hartlieb on a minor league deal. If you thought signing 45-year-old Rich Hill was a puzzling move, Hartlieb is a whole different level of confusing.

Not only was he sporting awful numbers in his brief major league stints with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers this season - and he was just average at best in both their Triple-A ranks - but in his first outing as an Omaha Storm Chaser on Wednesday, he showed exactly why he's bounced around multiple teams this season.

Geoff Hartlieb suffers blow-up outing in first appearance in Royals' organization

It didn't take long for Hartlieb to get his first shot in Triple-A with the Royals, making an appearance in Omaha's 15-3 loss to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday.

Unfortunately for both Hartlieb and the Royals organization, Hartlieb was a major reason why this game was a blowout in the first place, as the 31-year-old looked far from sharp in his debut. In just 0.1 innings of work, Hartlieb surrendered six earned runs off five hits and a walk, placing him at a outrageously high 162.00 ERA in Omaha.

High ERAs are nothing new for him in 2025 though, as they've become somewhat of a trademark for him at the major league level. While Hartlieb joins the Royals after his release from the Tigers organization - where he threw to a very high 9.00 ERA and even higher 11.62 FIP in a pair of innings of work - he's likely better known this season for his nightmare time with the Yankees.

In just a 1.1 innings of work across two bullpen appearances with New York in 2025, Hartlieb threw to a 40.00...yes 40.00 ERA, alongside a 15.87 FIP.

While his 3.34 ERA in 35.0 innings in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and his 4.73 ERA in 10.1 innings in Triple-A Toledo are much more palatable, his lack of success in the major leagues makes the Royals' decision to sign him a head-scratcher, as it's difficult to see a team in an active push for the postseason ever trust him on a major league mound.

While 2025 may certainly be the worst Hartlieb has looked at the major league level, it's certainly not the first time in his career he's underwhelmed in The Show.

Other than a 3.63 ERA in 22.1 innings with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020 and a 2.25 ERA in a brief four inning stint with the Miami Marlins in 2022, Hartlieb has never posted a major league ERA under 9.00 for a season, and sports a career big league ERA of 7.95 along with an unimpressive 5.71 FIP.

The Royals' brass obviously saw something in him to bring him aboard, but after Wednesday, it's even harder to see exactly what their reasons were.