Yuniesky

Betancourt

Betancourt is hitting .235 with two RBI and one walk in 34 at-bats since being recalled, but his glove makes him a better choice at shortstop than Mike Morse. When he makes a contribution offensively, that’s just a bonus.

Betancourt still fell short of a 700 OPS in May, but he did have 16 runs scored and 15 RBI in 29 games. Now he has three homers over the last month after hitting just one in his first 327 at-bats as a major leaguer. He’s not ready to be a major contributor in fantasy leagues, but he is making progress.

This will be his first start at shortstop since being acquired by the Brewers before the trade deadline. Hairston is currently in an 0-for-18 funk at the plate and has been bothered by a neck/shoulder issue recently, but Brewers manager Ron Roenicke hasn’t dismissed the possibility that he could get more playing time at shortstop moving forward. “I don’t know about that,” said Roenicke. “I don’t want to say that he couldn’t because if he got real hot and he’s playing good defense, then yeah, it could happen. But that’s not why I put him there.”

Heading into Game 4 of the NLDS, Betancourt had only one hit in 10 at-bats over three games. Since then, Yuni is 6-for-12 (.500) with two doubles, a home run, fives runs scored and three RBI over Milwaukee’s last three games. Betancourt produced a typically horrendous .252/.271/.381 triple slash line in the regular season, but he’s posted an eye-popping .500/.500/1.500 line over six postseason games in 2011.

“We’re not here to make those decisions today,” said Melvin. Betancourt, who was acquired from the Royals in the Zack Greinke deal, batted just .252/.271/.381 with 13 homers, 68 RBI and a .652 OPS over 584 plate appearances this season while playing below average defense at shortstop. Simply put, it would be stunning if they exercised the option.

The Royals are saying it’s just a precautionary thing. Betancourt should be fine for Friday’s season-opener.

Betancourt signed with the Royals this winter to serve as a utility player, but it sounds like he could be thrown into the mix pretty often. Three or four times per week is probably a stretch unless there’s an injury, but he should still see a decent amount of playing time as a backup at shortstop, second base and the hot corner. We would ignore him outside of AL-only fantasy formats, though.

Moustakas, who is 1-for-11 with a homer to begin the year, will take a seat against the southpaw Tom Milone. Yuniesky Betancourt will make the start at third and bat sixth.

The Royals optioned Johnny Giavotella to Triple-A Omaha on Sunday, leaving the veterans to platoon. "(Giavotella) needs to continue to focus on his defense,” Yost said. “Johnny is a much better defender today than he was at this time last year, but we had two better defensive options in Betancourt and Getz.” Neither is worth a look in fantasy outside of deep AL-only formats. Betancourt, 30, batted just .252/.271/.381 with 13 homers, 68 RBI and a .652 OPS for the Brewers last season. The 28-year-old Getz batted .255/.313/.287 with 26 RBI, 21 stolen bases and a .600 OPS over 429 plate appearances in a semi-regular role for the Royals in 2011.

Betancourt has been splitting time at second base with Chris Getz in the early going, and has started out with the hotter bat. He’s hitting .389 (7-for-18) thus far and may be playing his way into more starts.