Ahead of their final game of a three-outing set against the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Royals are making quite a few moves.
Per the club, outfielder Kyle Isbel and infielder Emmanuel Rivera are being recalled from Triple-A Omaha. In corresponding moves, pitcher Brady Singer is being sent down to Omaha and shortstop Adalberto Mondesi is being placed on the 10-day Injured List.
What does this mean for the Kansas City Royals?
The Royals making so many moves in one morning is noteworthy, especially with the team on the road. Isbel arrived in Chicago yesterday as a member of the "taxi squad," and the outfielder will re-enter the picture after he was recently sent down. The Royals already have Edward Olivares fighting for playing time and with Rivera potentially occupying an infield spot on at least a part-time basis, it will be difficult to fit Isbel in routinely. Nevertheless, he's back on the big-league team.
For Rivera, he gets the chance to receive some more time with the Royals after 29 games with the team last year. In 17 contests at Triple-A this year, the 25-year-old is slashing .290/.389/.532 with a wRC+ of 147. He's thrived thus far in the minors, although it remains to be seen if he can improve on the 80 wRC+ he posted on the MLB club in 2021.
Mondesi's struggles have been well documented, and his recent knee injury has led to him being placed on the IL. Original hopes for the Royals were that Mondesi's knee didn't have any structural damage, but further testing revealed that there was some. Time off made sense, especially for a player who has taken a while to recover from injuries in the past. In 15 games this year, Mondesi is hitting just .140.
Singer, a former member of the Royals' starting rotation, has been coming out of the bullpen to begin 2022. In three appearances, the righty has tossed 5-2/3 innings of ball with a 6.35 ERA. He pitched two innings of shutout baseball in the Royals' game one win over the White Sox, but now he'll presumably get more time to pitch in an environment that will allow him to fine-tune some things before he rejoins the Royals at some point later in the season.
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