Royals Officially Cut Bait With Worst Player Of 2025 Season
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The Kansas City Royals made a roster decision on Friday that few people would have any reason to question. Some might even say it was overdue.
Outfield production has been a major issue for the Royals in 2025. Royals outfielders have combined for -0.5 fWAR, with only seven home runs, tied with the Atlanta Braves for the fewest in Major League Baseball.
Remember that WAR stat we just cited? Well, the Royals would be in the positives right now were it not for one player. That's the player they chose to cut ties with on Friday.
The Royals announced Friday that they had designated outfielder Hunter Renfroe, a 10-year major league veteran, for assignment. They called up Triple-A outfielder Nick Loftin, who has just 75 total big-league games under his belt, to take Renfroe's spot on the active roster.
Renfroe, 33, appeared in 35 games for the Royals this season and somehow managed to accumulate -0.9 fWAR and -1.5 bWAR. Those aren't just the worst figures on the Royals, but they're bottom-five among all position players in baseball.
According to Royals Review on X (formerly Twitter), Renfroe's .647 OPS in a Royals uniform was the fifth-worst in club history by any player with at least 500 plate appearances.
With a .483 OPS and negatives in WAR and outs above average on defense, Renfroe was hurting the Royals in everything he did. And it's a shame it had to end this way, because before he got to Kansas City, Renfroe was having a decent major league career.
In parts of eight seasons before arriving with the Royals, Renfroe had a .777 OPS, 177 home runs, and 10.2 bWAR. He was never an All-Star, but he was a key member of multiple playoff teams, as his productive 2021 season with the Boston Red Sox stands out.
Renfroe exercised his $7.57 million player option before the season, so the Royals will be on the hook for the rest of that money in the (very likely) event that he clears waivers.
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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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