Carter

Jensen

After Jensen’s sac fly, Bobby Witt Jr. looped a liner over Orlando Arcia to give the Royals the lead. Jensen’s homer off Joe Ryan was his eighth of the year, though just his second in his last 37 games. He’s gone 5-for-31 with a 11/1 K/BB in seven games since the Royals moved him in the leadoff spot. It worked out today, but fifth or sixth is probably still the right slot for him,

Jensen put the Royals on the board with a base hit in the seventh to drive in a run and later came around to score. He then took Chris Martin deep for a two-run blast in the eighth to give the team a pair of insurance runs. The 22-year-old catcher is up to seven homers while slashing .228/.309/.401 with 22 runs scored and 26 RBI across 191 plate appearances.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro is shaking things up by moving Carter to the leadoff spot for the second time this season to face Rangers righty Kumar Rocker. Maikel Garcia has been moved to third in the order with Vinnie Pasquantino hitting cleanup. The 22-year-old rookie backstop has been mired in an extended tailspin at the plate, hitting .198 (19-for-96) with one homer, 11 RBI and 32 strikeouts over his last 30 games.

Kansas City continues to platoon Caglianone against left-handed starters with veteran Starling Marte handling the short-side assignment. The 23-year-old slugger has four homers and eight RBI through 32 games. He’s also struck out in just over 31 percent of his 118 plate appearances this season. Carter Jensen is also on the bench in this one with Cleveland throwing lefty Joey Cantillo.

Jensen is 2-for-30 with 15 strikeouts in his last nine games, dropping his average 60 points to .222. With six homers already, his lineup spot shouldn’t be in question yet. However, he might be due for a day or two off.

Pasquantino will get some additional time to rest and recover following an early departure from Tuesday’s game in West Sacramento with lower back tightness. Royals president JJ Picollo said earlier Wednesday that he doesn’t anticipate Pasquantino requiring a trip to the injured list. Salvador Perez takes over at the cold corner with rookie Carter Jensen handling the catching duties. Fantasy managers should consider Pasquantino day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series finale.

Jensen has now hit safely in five straight games and has multi-hit games in four of those contests. The second-year catcher/DH is hitting a healthy .288 on the season and is slashing .306/.393/.571 over his last 15 games with four homers and nine RBI. He’s leading the Royals in both homers (6) and RBI (14) this season and remains a viable fantasy option as long as he continues to stay hot.

Jensen has been great in hitting .275/.354/.585, but it has come with a scary jump in his strikeout rate; he entered today having fanned 22 times in 75 plate appearances, compared to 12 times in 69 plate appearances in his September audition last year. However, this now makes back-to-back starts without a strikeout, and he has his average over .260 for the first time this season.

Jansen has been seeing nearly everyday action between the catcher and designated hitter spots in the lineup, so he’ll get a breather on Sunday. Elias Diaz will start behind the plate for the Royals and will bat ninth against Yankees’ left-hander Ryan Weathers.

Jensen got the start behind the plate in this one and broke up a potential shutout with a seventh-inning homer against Yankees starter Will Warren. The 22-year-old rookie backstop has put together a sustained hot stretch at the dish of late, hitting .279 with four homers in his last 15 games.