Royals Must Call Up Surging 27-Year-Old To Address Biggest Roster Weakness

The Kansas City Royals have a major problem, and they've done far too little to address it since the middle of the 2024 season.

Not only has the Royals' outfield been atrocious so far in 2024, but it's been wholly predictable. A year after ranking 28th out of 30 teams in outfield WAR, the Royals are dead last so far in 2025, per Fangraphs.

Rather than focusing too much on the negatives, however, the Royals should take the obvious solution sitting right in front of them. There's an outfielder who has been crushing the ball of late on the roster--just not the big-league roster.

Twenty-seven-year-old journeyman minor leaguer John Rave has been crushing the ball so far in 2025, building on his success in Triple-A Omaha last season. And though Rave has never been a top prospect and doesn't fit neatly into the Royals' future plans, it's time to see what he can do.

Rave is slashing .308/.393/.558 so far in 14 games for the Omaha Storm Chasers. That includes two home runs and seven total extra-base hits. Royals outfielders, by the way, have just one home run all season in 259 plate appearances.

Rave isn't on the 40-man roster, so they'd have to get rid of someone or move a player to the 60-day injured list to bring him up. Otherwise, he'd be up already. The pitching staff has been racked by injuries so far, but none appear serious enough to warrant such a drastic measure.

The best course of action may be to designate Sam Long for assignment. The lefty was recently placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation, but more importantly, the Royals have two lefties in the bullpen who are far more reliable than the 29-year-old.

It's understandable that the Royals are exercising caution with regards to a roster shakeup. But soon, they'll have no choice. Rave is hitting, while Hunter Renfroe (another candidate to be waived) and MJ Melendez are floundering. At some point, you simply have to make a change.

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