Royals Cut Bait With 10-Year Veteran Who Has Played For 6 MLB Teams

It was a brief stay with the Kansas City Royals for this lifelong backup catcher.

The Royals signed Luke Maile, who has played in parts of 10 big-league seasons, to a minor league deal before the season began. He was called up to the active roster on May 2, because longtime starter Salvador Perez was dealing with some hip soreness at the time.

Now that Perez is back to catching most of Kansas City's games, though, there was little need for Maile to stick around. Kansas City already had one of the more qualified backups in the game with Freddy Fermín.

On Monday, the Royals designated Maile for assignment to make room for right-handed pitcher Taylor Clarke's return from the paternity list. The 34-year-old will now head to waivers.

If Maile clears waivers, which might not be a foregone conclusion given other clubs' needs for a cheap veteran backup, he has the option to elect free agency because he has five years of service time. But he might also wind up back in Triple-A Omaha if he views the Royals as his best situation.

Maile has racked up just over seven years of major league service time with the Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians, and Milwaukee Brewers. He's a lifetime .209/.276/.322 hitter with 22 home runs in 436 games.

However, one of those home runs did come in his eight at-bats with the Royals. He wound up appearing in just three games in Kansas City, going 3-for-8 with two walks.

Keeping a big-league career alive this long is already a major accomplishment for Maile, but it remains to be seen whether there are more chapters to write.

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