Royals designate LHP for assignment

The Royals announced Firday afternoon that they designated left-hander Austin Cox for assignment. Cox’s departure from the 40-man roster makes room for the club’s acquisition of right-hander Nick Anderson from the Braves in a cash deal earlier Friday, which the Royals have now officially announced.

Cox, 26, was a fifth-round pick by Kansas City in the 2018 draft. The left-hander impressed in his full-season debut with the organization in 2019, pitching to a 2.76 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate across 130 2/3 innings of work split between Single-A and High-A. Unfortunately, the momentum Cox built up over that strong campaign screeched to a halt with the cancelled minor league season in 2020. Cox’s results upon returning to professional play in 2021 were somewhat mixed. Though he did well in his first taste of the Double-A level with a 3.00 ERA in 63 innings of work with a 21.5% strikeout rate, he struggled badly in a brief, two-appearance stint at Triple-A where he surrendered 10 runs on nine hits and five walks across five innings, striking out just four.

Those Triple-A struggles continued into the 2022 campaign, where Cox saw his strikeout rate plummet to just 16.2% across 147 1/3 innings of work at the level while his ERA ballooned up to 4.10. Things seemed to be looking up for Cox in 2023 as he posted a solid 3.61 ERA at the Triple-A level this year while getting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues, but his 2023 season was cut short in September when he suffered a full ACL tear and partial MCL injury that ultimately required surgery. That surgery, which figures to keep him out of action for much of the 2024 season, surely played a role in the club’s decision to designate Cox for assignment.

Going forward, the Royals will have one week to either work out a trade for Cox or expose him to the waiver wire. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, the club will have the opportunity to assign him outright to the minor leagues. Cox has not previously been outrighted in his career and lacks the necessary service time to reject the assignment and depart for free agency.