Last week when Yuniesky Betancourt got hurt and the Royals replaced him with career minor leaguer Irving Falu rather than 24-year-old prospect Johnny Giavotella it seemed ... well, let’s be nice and say odd.
And now Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports that the Royals have decided to call up Giavotella after all--apparently that extra week at Triple-A really did wonders for him--but they’re not doing so with the intention of actually playing him every day. You know, because that would make too much sense.
Instead, according to Dutton, he’s being called up to serve mostly as a platoon player versus left-handed pitching. Giavotella is a 24-year-old prospect who’s hit .331 at Triple-A this season after hitting .338 there last season, and yet the Royals would rather give the bulk of the playing time to 28-year-old Chris Getz and his .630 career OPS.
In completely unrelated news, Kansas City is 10-19.
UPDATE: To make room for Giavotella on the roster the Royals placed Jonathan Sanchez on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis.
