Royals Promote Nick Pratto, Others Ahead of Blue Jays Series
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Following their series against the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals are placing 10 players on the restricted list due to them not being vaccinated against COVID-19. The club is in Toronto to close out the week against the Blue Jays, which requires that players be vaccinated in order to cross the border into Canada. As Kansas City gears up for the 2022 All-Star break, they'll be doing so without some of their best players.
On the flip side of that coin, many prospects from the Royals' farm system will either rejoin the team or be called up to make their big-league debuts as the weekend approaches. The list of replacements is plentiful, and it's chock-full of names that many in Royals circles should be familiar with. Here's the complete inventory, with one or two more potentially coming throughout the series:
- Nick Pratto
- Maikel Garcia
- Sebastian Rivero
- Angel Zerpa
- Nate Eaton
- Freddy Fermin
- Brewer Hicklen
- Michael Massey
The headliner of this group is Pratto, who is the club's No. 2 prospect (trailing only Vinnie Pasquantino). In 74 games at Triple-A Omaha this year, the power-bat first baseman is slashing .240/.374/.484 with a 130 wRC+ and a .244 ISO. Since June 12, the 23-year-old is hitting .284 and has seven home runs and 18 RBIs. He's flashed in recent weeks that he's worthy of a promotion, and he'll now have a chance to be evaluated and possibly stick with the big-league club if he can play well in Toronto.
Massey is another player who was hitting the cover off the ball in Omaha, slashing .348/.408/.630 with a staggering 172 wRC+ in 24 games at that level. In 54 games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, he hit .305 and was one of the Naturals' best players. Massey, 24, draws some loose comparisons to Whit Merrifield for his bat-to-ball ability, although he did clobber 21 home runs in High-A last season. Garcia, a 22-year-old infielder, has posted an 11.1% walk rate and is hitting .287 in Double-A this year.
Zerpa tossed two scoreless innings against Detroit earlier this week. In regards to more hitters, Rivero has yet to record a hit in three games with the Royals and Hicklen is hitless in two contests as a Royal. The duo of Fermin and Eaton arrives as further reinforcements. Fermin, a 27-year-old backstop, has posted a 111 wRC+ in 40 games with Omaha this season. Eaton has been terrific in 39 games at Triple-A, hitting .329 with a scorching .591 SLG and 157 wRC+ thus far this season.
