Carter

Jensen

Jensen was dropped to seventh in the Royals’ order Saturday, in his first game back from his punishment for oversleeping, but he was back up to fifth tonight. That actually might have won the Royals the game. In the fourth, Jensen reached on a wild pitch/strikeout ahead of Jonathan India’s RBI single with two outs. He also singled ahead of India’s homer with two outs in the eighth. If it had been Jac Caglianone batting fifth tonight, both of those innings might have ended before India got to the plate.

Switching lineup spots with Jac Caglianone, Jensen was dropped to seventh tonight after batting fifth in his previous four starts. He’s 4-for-20 with four RBI in seven games.

Jensen remains out of Kansas City’s lineup for the second consecutive contest after a highly-publicized incident Thursday where he overslept and was scratched from the lineup. The 22-year-old rookie backstop figures to be behind the dish for the second game of Saturday’s twin bill after veteran Salvador Perez handles the catching duties in the opening contest.

Vinnie Pasquantino said after the game that the team was worried about Jensen’s well-being because nobody knew where he was. The team even tried to get in touch with his family to see if they had heard from him. Fortunately, he just overslept, so this could simply become a valuable learning experience for the rookie. When asked about it, Jensen said he had “no excuses” and that he will “learn from it” and not let his teammates down again.

It’s been great to see Jensen in the Royals lineup all three games so far, including on Opening Day in a lefty-lefty matchup. He hit ninth versus the southpaw, but he’s batted fifth both games since. That’s not the greatest RBI spot, as cleanup man Salvador Perez typically either makes an out or clears the bases himself. Still, Jensen has a really good chance of being a top-12 catcher if he’s close to an everyday player.

Caglianone came off the bench during Thursday’s season opener against the Braves with veteran southpaw Chris Sale on the mound. The 23-year-old former top prospect was one of the more popular middle-round fantasy sleepers in drafts this spring but he’s probably going to keep sitting against tougher left-handed starters. The other notable change for Kansas City is Carter Jensen moving up to the fifth spot after hitting eighth on Opening Day.

With a .296/.321/.630 line in 28 plate appearances, Jensen is doing what he needs to in order to ensure that he’s in the lineup most of the time at the beginning of the season. There’s a chance that he’ll wind up as a top-10 fantasy catcher if he approaches 500 at-bats as a rookie.

It’s already the second homer of the spring for Jensen with this one coming off Grant Anderson. The 22-year-old was one of the better stories for Kansas City in 2025 with a .300/.391/.550 slash over 20 games, and he looks locked into a starting role with the Royals in 2026; maybe even one that sees him hit in the middle of the KC lineup.

It’s presumably a major-league deal for Marte, pending a physical. He heads to Kansas City as a right-handed complement for right fielder Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen at DH. He won’t syphon off enough playing time to make a significant fantasy impact but he represents a decent insurance policy in case either former top prospect struggles this season. The 37-year-old veteran outfielder spent the past four years with the Mets and slashed .270/.335/.410 with nine homers and seven steals in 98 games this past season in a part-time role.

Jansen singled with two outs in the opening inning but the Royals were unable to cash him in. He then drove in Jac Caglianone with an RBI single in the fourth inning that extended his club’s advantage to 2-0. He then walloped a 416-foot (102.2 mph EV) two-run shot off of Teofilo Mendez in the fifth that made it an 8-0 ballgame. Jansen should see regular action in the Royals’ lineup to start the season, both as the backup to Salvador Perez behind the dish and as a designated hitter, giving him plenty of utility for fantasy purposes — especially in two-catcher leagues.