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