The Kansas City Royals officially acquired pitcher Natanael Garabitos on Friday from the Seattle Mariners.
This completes the trade from earlier this offseason in which the M's acquired utility player Samad Taylor from Kansas City.
The Royals made the announcement on social media:
We have acquired RHP Natanael Garabitos from the Seattle Mariners, completing the January trade of Samad Taylor.
MLBTradeRumors had more on Garabitos and his career to this point.
Garabitos, 23, signed with the Mariners as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic back in 2019. He has pitched in the lower levels of the minor leagues since entering pro ball. Garabitos has posted big strikeout numbers but walked far too many hitters. That continued at Low-A Modesto in 2023, where he issued free passes to 17.3% of opponents. The 6’0″ righty struck out 30.2% of batters faced while allowing 4.02 earned runs per nine through 40 1/3 innings.
As the Royals look to rebuild their organization, Garabitos does not rank in the Top-30 of their farm system, per MLB.com. However, he does become an interesting arm for Royals fans to watch develop with a chance of contributing in the future.
Kansas City finished fifth in the American League Central last year with the second-worst record in the AL, but after signing Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Will Smith, Garrett Hampson, Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier this offseason, they should be significantly improved.
As for Taylor, the speedster is looking to make the M's roster out of spring training. He's hitting .269 this spring.
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