Royals Spring Training Update: Jonathan India injury, Isaac Collins out, Carter Jensen homer

The baseball world might be fixated on the World Baseball Classic as the tournament has shifted into elimination play with quarterfinal action continuing on Saturday, but spring training action is still ongoing.

And with less than two weeks until Opening Day there's plenty of updates from Royals camp in Surprise that fans ought to know about.

Royals Jonathan India leaves Friday's spring training action vs. D-backs early

The Royals haven't had many injury blows to report from camp so far and they'll hope that trend continues with one of their hottest spring training hitters.

In Friday's Cactus League action against the Arizona Diamondbacks, second baseman Jonathan India left prematurely with what the team reported as right groin tightness.

Later, MLB.com's Anne Rogers provided a further update on India's condition, saying that manager Matt Quatraro will have a further update on India's status Saturday and that he was pulled out of an abundance of caution after feeling his groin "tighten up early on".

Hopefully this is just a temporary setback for India, as the 2026 bounce-back hopeful seemed to be finding his footing all of a sudden after an uninspiring start to spring training.

This also marks another Royals second base option hitting the shelf this week after Michael Massey was been sidelined with a calf strain earlier.

Update on Royals outfielder Isaac Collins' spring training absence surfaces

Sticking on the injury train, the Royals have been missing a key new member to their revamped outfield core this week in Isaac Collins.

On Friday, MLB.com's Anne Rogers provided an update on his status and detailing why he's been out of the lineup in recent days. She the team is being cautious with him as he's been experiencing mild back and left side tightness.

"Collins told me it’s something he doesn’t want to push through with Opening Day still two weeks away," Rogers wrote on X.

This unfortunately isn't the first time the Royals faithful have received injury news about their new switch-hitting asset, as Collins' start to spring training was delayed due to receiving receiving PRP injections in his knees earlier this winter.

Royals rookie Carter Jensen belts monstrous spring training homer vs. Diamondbacks

Let's round things off with some good news. There's nothing quite like admiring a mammoth home run and Royals rookie Carter Jensen provided the fanbase with just that in Friday's matchup against the D-backs.

In the bottom off the fourth inning, Jensen took Diamondbacks lefty Phillip Abner deep to right field for a jaw-dropping two-run blast.

This wasn't just your ordinary homer either, this was nothing short of your textbook moonshot, travelling 438 feet with an exit velocity of 110.8 mph.

After an extremely impressive September cameo in 2025, Jensen looks all but likely to start the year with Royals, presumably splitting catching duties with veteran captain Salvador Perez.

This is largely due to his ultra-impressive performance in camp this spring where he's looked every bit a major leaguer. In 28 plate appearances across nine games, he's slashing .296/.321/.630 with three homers, seven RBI and a 141 wRC+.