Nick Loftin absent from Royals’ lineup Thursday

Loftin has been functioning as the club’s primary third baseman with Maikel Garcia (hamstring) shelved, but he’ll get a breather in this one. Josh Rojas will start in his place at the hot corner and will bat eighth for the Royals against Spencer Arrighetti and the Blue Jays on Thursday evening in Toronto.

He’ll presumably fill in for the duration of Michael Massey’s 7-day IL stint. Rojas remains merely a depth option for the Royals and has no fantasy value.

Loftin launched a three-run homer off Ty Madden in the bottom of the fifth that helped Kansas City pad a lead they wouldn’t surrender. He has operated as the everyday third baseman since Maikel Garcia landed back on the injured list earlier this week, and he’s been hitting leadoff against lefties this month. The increased playing time is something to monitor in deeper fantasy formats.

There simply isn’t a spot for Rojas with Maikel Garcia back from the injured list. The 32-year-old is merely organizational infield depth at this stage of his career. He hit .224 (17-for-76) with one homer and one steal in 30 games for Kansas City.

Garcia, out since June 23 with a hand injury, went 4-for-10 with a double and three walks in three games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas from Thursday through Saturday. His return will likely push Nick Loftin back into a utility role and result in Josh Rojas losing his spot.

Loftin was on base all three times up against Tarik Skubal. He’s hitting a solid .249/.336/.400, giving him the third highest OPS among the 12 players with 100 plate appearances for the Royals this season.

The Braves wanted to add an outfielder who could start against lefties, and Thomas fits nicely there, as long as they don’t get overexcited and start using him versus righties, too. Thomas has an .800 OPS against lefties and a .660 OPS against righties this year. For his career, he’s at .850 against lefties and .669 versus righties. The Braves didn’t have to part with any top prospects, so it’s a solid pickup. With Thomas in the mix, the Braves might move on from Eli White. Isaac Collins and Josh Rojas should get more time in Kansas City with Thomas out of the mix.

Loftin has essentially become a full-time player for the Royals due to injuries, starting 14 of 18 Royals July games to date. He’s hitting .286/.344/.393 in July and .247/.330/.394 on the season with four homers and one stolen base. Obviously, no fantasy upside here with those numbers, but Loftin is at least playing decently enough to not be a major problem for the Royals.

As goes Loftin, so go the Royals. This makes seven times this season that the Royals have scored 10 runs with him in the starting lineup, and he’s 17-for-33 with three homers and 14 RBI in those games. He’s hit .177 with one homer and 15 RBI in his remaining 49 appearances.

Loftin had been 1-for-27 since going 4-for-6 with a homer the last time the Royals scored 10 runs on June 23. Six times this year, he’s started a game in which the Royals have gone on to score in double figures. He’s 14-for-27 with two homers and 12 RBI in those games, and he’s hitting .177 in 130 at-bats the rest of the time.