Royals 'Likely' To Trade Standout 19-Year-Old For Impact Bat, MLB Writer Claims
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The Kansas City Royals will have work to do at the trade deadline if they want to keep up in the playoff hunt.
While the American League doesn't have many standout teams, plenty of squads are nipping at Kansas City's heels in the wild card picture early on. Plus, they're currently fourth in their own division, as the AL Central has surprised everyone so far in 2025.
The Royals will need to improve their offense, and the outfield in particular, if they want to improve on their modest early-season success. That also means they'll have to decide which prospects are expendable for them to find the right bat on the trade market.
One baseball writer believes there is a name the Royals should be eager to trade if it nets them the right return.
On Wednesday, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller named 19-year-old catcher Ramon Ramirez, the team's number-10 prospect in MLB Pipeline's rankings, as the "most likely" player in the organization to be traded away this summer.
"By no means are we saying they're just going to give away Ramon Ramirez because of a slight surplus of catchers," Miller wrote. "He's likely at least two, maybe three years away from the majors, but he could be an impact bat in due time."
"What they need, though, is impact bats right now, as the current state of relying almost exclusively on Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia for offense is quite the house of cards. Turning Ramirez's long-term potential at catcher into an outfielder who can help with this year's hunt for October could be huge."
Ramirez has been very good at Low-A this year, with an .878 OPS in 34 games. But Kansas City has Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermín at the major league level, with fellow top prospects Blake Mitchell and Carter Jensen ahead of Ramirez in the pipeline as well.
Not that trading any prospect is ever guaranteed, but Ramirez sure seems like an easy target for Kansas City to toss into a package to land a Taylor Ward or Cedric Mullins this summer.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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