Royals 27-Year-Old Draws Favorable Comparison To Two-Time World Series Champion

Tyler Tolbert is a former 13th-round pick and 27-year-old rookie doing everything in his power to stick with the Kansas City Royals.

Tolbert made his major league debut on Mar. 31 and has played in a total of six games. He's yet to get his first start, and in fact, he's yet to appear in any game before the seventh inning. And in three at-bats, he's yet to get his first hit.

There's one thing that matters most to the Royals about Tolbert's game, however. It's the reason he's still on a big-league depth chart and the reason he might crack the roster if the Royals appear in the playoffs: pure, uncontainable speed.

In four appearances as a pinch runner, Tolbert has already collected four stolen bases. He's no stranger to the art of theft; in six seasons of minor-league competition, he stole 243 bases while only being caught 16 times.

On Friday, Caleb Moody of FanSided came up with a comparison for Tolbert, and it's one that Royals fans will love: Terrance Gore, the speedster famous for his exploits during Kansas City's 2014 and 2015 postseason runs.

"Whether or not he stays in the majors after (Dairon) Blanco returns remains to be seen, However, the fact the Royals can call upon that type of speed at any point in time could be a game changer."

"While his speed may look similar to Gore, the added bonus of Tolbert is there is some offensive upside to fall back on that Gore never really possessed. He has a pair of near-league or league average offensive seasons in the upper minors under his belt," Moody wrote.

Gore was such a potent stolen base threat that he won a World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves in 2021 despite not appearing in a single regular-season game for them. He had five career playoff stolen bases, four of which came in a Royals uniform.

Baseball Savant hasn't yet collected enough data on Tolbert to determine where he ranks in terms of sprint speed around the league. But any player who has more stolen bases than plate appearances is in a special category of elite speed, no matter what the metrics say.

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