Royals tackle crucial outfield need with last-second trade for crafty Giants veteran

Just when Royals fans thought the trade deadline had come and gone and they were left without a desperately needed outfielder, J.J. Picollo and the front office pulled off a last-second hail mary.

Before the clock struck 5 p.m. CT, MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported that the Kansas City Royals had acquired veteran outfielder Mark Yastrzemski from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Yunior Marte, with the team confirming the deal later on.

Royals add desperately needed outfield bat in Mike Yastrzemski

If the Royals hadn't gone and traded for Yastrzemski, it's not as if they wouldn't have addressed their outfield all together. They did trade for utility man Adam Frazier earlier in the month and then more notably acquired Randal Grichuk over the weekend.

However, since then, young phenom Jac Caglianone hit the injured list, leaving the Royals left to rely too heavily on below-average bats like Kyle Isbel (71 wRC+) and John Rave (70 wRC+).

Now, the Royals have another near-average bat in the fold on top of Grichuk to help balance out what's been the league's worst outfield by nearly every statistical metric this season.

So far this year, Yastrzemski is hitting .231 with a .685 OPS and 97 wRC+. His calling card though is his solid pop and excellent plate vision. While his power numbers may be down this season, with only eight home runs and sub-.400 SLG to this point, he's produced 15+ homers in each of his first six seasons prior to 2025.

His plate vision hasn't escaped him though, as his 12.6% walk rate ranks in the 88th percentile of league hitters this year. Yastrzemski will go a long way in helping with the Royals' sub-par ability to draw walks as a collective, as they sit dead last in all of baseball in walk-rate at 6.6%.

For the time being, he'll likely assume Caglianone's full-time time right field role until the former top prospect is able to return from his hamstring ailment. Upon his return, Yastrzemski could form a nice corner outfield platoon with the right-handed hitting Grichuk.

Yastrzemski is entering the final year of his contract, so for the Royals it gives them ana adequate short-term solution now and the financial flexibility to address this issue in a more permanent manner this winter.

To obtain Yastrzemski for half a season the Royals parted ways with their 20th overall prospect accroding to MLB Pipeline in Yunior Marte.

The 21-year-old Marte has been crafting quite the season in Low-A Columbia this year, throwing to a 2.74 ERA, 3.01 FIP, 0.99 WHIP and .204 BAA in 82.0 innings across 19 starts.

With Yastrzemski's addition to the offense, it's easy to see a more productive lineup from top to bottom and not just a unit that relies on it's two-through-five hitters like it has for the majority of the season.