Royals Promotion Of Young Outfielder 'Paying Huge Dividends'

The Kansas City Royals have cooled down a little in recent weeks, but are firmly in the postseason chase after overcoming an 8-14 start to the 2025 season.

The Royals are now 28-23 and hold the third American League Wild Card spot as the month of May nears its end.

The main reason the Royals find themselves in contention is their pitching staff. The offense on the other hand, has underperformed as of late.

However, not every aspect of the offense is a net negative for the Royals. In fact, they made a decision to promote outfielder Drew Waters earlier this year.

That move has paid off, and Caleb Moody of FanSided praised the Royals for having made this decision.

"Finally, we have Drew Waters, who wasn't on the Opening Day roster, but after a strong start to the year in Triple-A Omaha - where he slashed .370/.469/.741 with a 210 wRC+ in seven games - the Royals had no choice to but to give him his shot when the chance presented itself," Moody wrote.

"Waters performed strong enough to warrant staying on the roster even after [Mark] Canha returned."

Waters is slashing .281/.322/.404 with a home runs, nine RBI, three stolen bases and a .726 OPS this year. Clearly, promoting him paid off, and keeping him in the Major Leagues was also a wise decision.

The 26-year-old was drafted by the Atlanta Braves but was traded to Kansas City in 2022. So far, he is turning out to be a solid complementary piece for this team.

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