Drew

Waters

The Royals needed to free up a spot on their active roster to squeeze Luke Maile in on Friday night to provide depth behind the plate and Waters was the unfortunate roster casualty. He’ll get another opportunity with the big league club in relatively short order.

This will make back-to-back games against right-handed pitchers that Waters isn’t starting. The 26-year-old begins Friday’s game on the bench with Nick Loftin hitting seventh and playing left field.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 26-year-old outfielder. Waters has been unimpressive in his time with the Royals this season, slashing .269/.307/.359 with one homer, 13 RBI, and five stolen bases in 176 plate appearances. Nick Loftin will start in his place in left field and will bat seventh against Yankees’ right-hander Will Warren.

Massey was scratched from the lineup on May 28 with left ankle soreness before returning three days later. If it’s still bothering him, that’s a good excuse to put him on a rehab assignment for a spell, though he has all of his options remaining and there was no reason the Royals couldn’t have sent him down several weeks ago. Massey has hit a disastrous .202/.221/.258 over 209 plate appearances as one of the league’s worst players this year. Jonathan India will start at second base for now, though he’s been doing quite a bit of that anyway. Nick Loftin and Drew Waters figure to pick up extra at-bats in Massey’s place.

He takes Cavan Biggio’s roster spot. It’s the first ever callup for the 27-year-old Rave, the Royals’ fifth-round pick in 2019. He was hitting .301/.382/.549 with nine homers and 17 steals for Omaha, which is nice step forward from his typical production. The Royals will probably play him against most righties, resulting in fewer at-bats for Drew Waters and maybe Michael Massey. It’s unlikely that he’ll prove useful in mixed leagues, though not entirely impossible, given his steal potential.

Isbel will sit out his second straight contest after being scratched from Saturday’s lineup with an illness. It’ll be Drew Waters taking over in center field for the second consecutive game.

There’s something going around Kansas City’s clubhouse at the moment with Isbel becoming the latest player feeling under the weather. It’ll be Drew Waters taking over to patrol center field on Saturday afternoon against the Twins at Target Field.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 26-year-old outfielder. Mark Canha will slide into the lineup in his place and will bat seventh against Red Sox’ right-hander Hunter Dobbins.

Waters finally snapped a scoreless tie with his 408-foot (100.9 mph EV) solo shot off of Ryan Feltner to lead off the sixth inning. He then tripled in the ninth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Michael Massey. He has done a decent job so far for the Royals this season, slashing .273/.314/.455 with one homer, two RBI and one stolen base in his first 34 plate appearances. He remains irrelevant for fantasy purposes.

Melendez did hit his first homer Tuesday, but to say he’s struggled to begin the season (.343 OPS over 52 plate appearances) is quite the understatement. He’ll sit with Drew Waters hitting eighth and playing left field in his absence.