One week ago Royals manager Ned Yost said he was sticking with third baseman Mike Moutakas despite a ghastly .147 batting average. Today the Royals demoted Moustakas to Triple-A.
In between then and now Moustakas went 3-for-16 (.188) with two doubles in six games, which apparently convinced the Royals they’ve seen enough struggles from the 25-year-old former top prospect and No. 2 overall pick.
Moustakas has certainly earned the demotion. In addition to this year’s struggles he’s hit just .236 with a .669 OPS in 414 career games, posting an ugly 284/105 K/BB ratio while showing zero signs of improvement. It’s just noteworthy that Yost came out so strongly in favor of sticking with Moustakas only to see the team demote him exactly one week later.
Last time Moustakas was at Triple-A he was a 22-year-old top prospect in 2011 and he hit .287 with an .845 OPS in 55 games before the Royals called him up. However, even then his 44/19 K/BB ratio was a red flag.
And now the Royals’ primary third baseman is 29-year-old journeyman Danny Valencia.