Rays acquire outfielder Michael Gigliotti from Royals

The Rays have acquired speedy outfielder Michael Gigliotti from the Royals to complete a July 21 trade, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The deal allowed Kansas City to keep control over Rule 5 draft pick Stephen Woods Jr. The Royals have announced the deal. The team also announced the release of Ofreidy Gomez and the addition of right-hander Alec Marsh to the team’s alternate training site.

The Royals selected Woods with the fourth overall pick of the 2019 Rule 5 draft. The 25-year-old right-hander made two appearances for the Royals this season without yielding a run. He was making the jump to the show from High-A, but this deal allows the Royals to move him freely from the active roster to the alternate training site as they so choose.

Gigliotti was a fourth-round draft choice of the Royals in 2017. Baseball America ranked him as the Royals' No. 27 overall prospect heading into the 2020 season, while FanGraphs did not place him among their top 43 prospects. FanGraphs prospect scribe Eric Longenhagen wrote, “Gigliotti has the best approach and contact skills of this group but he’s performed against competition much younger than him and has been hurt a lot.” The slender 24-year-old split 2019 between the Royals of the Arizona League, Single-A, and High-A. Across the three levels, Gigliotti hit .282/.369/.368 while swiping 36 bags.