Nationals On-Base Machine Identified As Royals Trade Target By MLB Writer

In the Kansas City Royals' search for outfield help, it should be helpful to target teams with logjams.

The Washington Nationals are clearly one of those teams. James Wood is an emerging superstar, Dylan Crews is still a promising ex-top prospect, and Jacob Young, Robert Hassell III, and Alex Call have all shown promise this season.

The 30-year-old Call seems like the odd man out in terms of playing time over the long haul. That could be the precursor to a trade, and one baseball writer wants to see the Royals get involved.

On Tuesday, Matt Chabot of Royals Review named Call as one of his favorite prospective trade targets for the Royals to solve their outfield woes at this year's deadline, which takes place on Jul. 31.

"Someone will have to be the odd man out, as it is unlikely the Nationals will want to hold on to six outfielders the rest of the year. James Wood is untouchable, and top prospects like Crews, (Daylen) Lile, and Hassell will likely hold a price the Royals won't be willing to pay," Chabot wrote.

"With Kyle Isbel already providing elite defense in CF, Alex Call feels like the guy the Royals should target at the deadline, and with the Nationals desperately needing pitching, they could be willing to move him to Kansas City for the right price."

On the season, Call is slashing .275/.377/.386. He has only two home runs in 55 games/188 plate appearances, so the fear is that if his on-base stats ticked down a bit, he'd blend in a little too well with the rest of the Royals' punchless outfield.

However, Call is under team control through the end of the 2029 season, so he wouldn't be anything resembling a rental. And seeing as he already struggles to find playing time with his current team, the price tag shouldn't be as high as it might be for other players with a similar contract status.

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