Royals Outright Luke Little

The Royals assigned left-hander Luke Little outright to Triple-A Omaha, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. The log indicates that Kansas City technically designated him for assignment on Monday, though the team never announced the move.

Kansas City claimed Little off waivers from the Cubs at the beginning of August. He spent the rest of the season in Omaha on an optional assignment. Little was bombed for 21 runs (19 earned) across 11 1/3 frames with the Storm Chasers. He put far too many hitters aboard, walking 12 and hitting four while throwing three wild pitches. Little had also walked almost a batter per inning with the Cubs’ top affiliate earlier in the season. He finished the season with a 7.28 ERA and an untenable 18% walk percentage in 44 Triple-A appearances.

Little has above-average velocity and cuts an imposing on-mound presence at 6’8″ and 220 pounds. He has yet to sync his mechanics enough to consistently find the strike zone. Little has managed a 2.97 ERA across 36 1/3 career big league frames, yet it’s required him to work around a near-18% walk rate. The free passes have led to more runs in the minor leagues. Little has a 4.62 ERA over parts of four Triple-A campaigns.

This is the first career outright assignment for Little, but he has played parts of seven seasons in the minors. That’ll give him the right to elect minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason. He’ll be out of options next season and is likely to be limited to non-roster invites to camp.

Kansas City’s 40-man roster had been at capacity. Jonathan India, Craig Kimbrel, Josh Rojas and Luke Maile are impending free agents. Carlos Estévez is going to join them when his club option is declined, while the Royals hold a borderline option decision on Tony Gonsolin. They’ll have six others — Cole Ragans, Nick Mears, Luinder Avila, Stephen Kolek, Alec Marsh and Connor Seabold — due to come off the 60-day injured list. Marsh and Seabold could land on waivers, but the other four are likely to be reinstated onto the 40-man roster.