Royals Urged To Call Up Surging 27-Year-Old To Boost Struggling Outfield

It doesn't take a baseball savant (no pun intended) to know that the Kansas City Royals' outfield isn't cutting the mustard.

Royals outfielders have the fourth-worst fWAR in Major League Baseball at -0.6. They're tied for the fewest home runs at seven, and are alone in last place with five stolen bases. It's a bit of a "What would you say you do here?" situation.

Kansas City already shook up the outfield once this season when they demoted MJ Melendez to Triple-A, giving Drew Waters an opportunity to play more. It's paid off modestly, with Waters putting up a .281 average and 104 OPS+ through 35 games.

Now, one Royals writer is calling on the team to shake things up for a second time.

On Thursday, Trenton Kraxner of Royals Review named a trio of outfielders he believed the team should call up (presumably, choosing one of the three), and that group included 27-year-old John Rave, who has yet to make his major league debut.

"The 27-year-old outfielder is also tearing it up at AAA, and the Royals are in plenty of offensive help from the outfield spots. Rave is hitting .302, with a .386 on-base percentage and .528 slugging percentage," Kraxner wrote.

"He has seven doubles, four triples, and seven home runs as well. While he has struck out a decent amount, Rave is also 16 of 17 in stolen base attempts, something that the Royals have struggled with this season. John Rave is a guy who deserves an opportunity to make his MLB debut this season, and soon."

There's simply no telling how a Rave call-up would work out, but it's worth a shot. To make it work, the Royals would probably have to designate Hunter Renfroe for assignment, which has become less of an "if" and more of a "when" for Kansas City.

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