Royals News: Noah Cameron's new approach, Salvador Perez MLB The Show, Zion Rose homer

The Kansas City Royals are surely wrapped up with the MLB trade deadline approaching in the next few days and what names might be shipped out in order to retool for the 2027 season and beyond. However, amidst the hustle and bustle of managing the stove, there's several other noteworthy Royals headlines fans ought to be aware of.

One in particular that took center stage on Thursday was the pitching masterclass Noah Cameron put on before the bullpen ultimately ruined things for him and the Royals in the ninth inning. The sophomore hurler would end up going eight innings of scoreless baseball, surrendering only one hit and two walks while striking out seven. Not to mention he carried a no-hitter into the ninth.

What can't be overlooked though are the new tactics the Royals are taking with Cameron lately, particularly him calling his own pitches. For the second-straight outing now Cameron has called his own game and the results have been nothing short of expectational. In this span he's thrown 15.0 innings of shutout ball while giving up just three hits and striking out 15.

He's dropped his ERA from 5.28 to 4.59 and his WHIP from 1.46 to 1.34. It may've been an unorthodox change for a such a young arm, as traditionally it's grizzled vets who get the privilege of pushing their catcher to the side and calling games, but the payoff has been real in the early going.

Salvador Perez's franchise home run record gets honored in MLB The Show

Royals captain Salvador Perez stole headlines last week after he surpassed Hall of Famer George Brett for Kansas City's franchise lead in home runs. It was certainly a defining moment in baseball history and it's receiving more recognition than just from the Royals faithful.

Video game franchise MLB The Show announced Friday that Perez would be receiving a custom card to honor his home run feat. As part of their July Spotlight Program, which also features names like Toronto's Kazuma Okamoto, Cleveland's Brayan Rocchio and Pittsburgh's Esmerlyn Valdez, Perez's special card will be given a 99 rating and has reportedly been available to use since 2 p.m. CT.

A record like this has really uplifted what's been a dreadful season for the veteran backstop who's shown his age mightily all of a sudden in 2026. After being a finalist for a Silver Slugger Award just a year ago, following a 30 HR and 100 RBI campaign, Perez is slashing just .212/.260/.368 with 15 HR, 45 RBI and a 69 wRC+ in 102 games.

Royals first-rounder Zion Rose makes loud statement in first professional at-bat

The Royals caught some considerable flack for how heavily they adopted the under slot approach in this year's MLB Draft. At pick No. 6, they reached for MLB Pipeline's 30th ranked prospect in Zion Rose, passing on seemingly higher profile names like Drew Burress or Jacob Lombard. While they did save nearly $2 million on Rose, it's hard not to question whether they settled with such a high pick.

However, Rose's well-rounded profile was on full display at the complex in Surprise, AZ, as in his first professional at-bat Rose may very well have silenced some doubters, launching a homer to center field on Friday afternoon.

Regardless of how Royals fans feel about their strange draft approach, Rose is still a talented prospect that has brings a ton of potential to the top of this system. Pipeline gave him solid 55 grades in his hit, power and run tools. And that was representative of his time at Louisville, as the converted outfielder slashed .417/.491/.646 with six homers, 47 RBI, an 11% walk rate to just an 8.7% K-rate and a 147 wRC+ in his junior year.

And Rose was even a high riser in his debut to prospect lists across the board, led by a top five standing Baseball America's Royals rankings. Kansas City needed to break up their youthfulness at the top of their system and Rose provided them the means to do just that.

If he continues to show out in Surprise in the coming days/weeks, perhaps it's not out of the question to see him in Columbia for a Low-A cameo before the year is up.

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