Royals Writer Praises Team For Trade For 34-Year-Old Veteran Outfielder
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The Kansas City Royals were buyers this year at the trade deadline as opposed to being sellers. They added three bats to boost their lineup and also brought in pitchers Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert.
The only piece they sold was backup catcher Freddy Fermin, who was then replaced by veteran Luke Maile.
Their offense was their biggest achilles heel leading up to the deadline, and so they decided to find a few good fits to give themselves a boost. One of the hitters they acquired was Mike Yastrzemski, who came over in a trade with the San Francisco Giants.
Jacob Milham of FanSided recently praised the Royals for making this move.
"Yastrzemski especially has been as advertised in his small body of work. He homered in his first plate appearance with the Royals, the first player to do so since Nelson Velázquez in 2023," Milham wrote. "He has an unsustainable .615 slugging percentage through his first five games, thanks to all of his hits going for extra bases until a leadoff single against the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 6. Kansas City needed the pending free agent to hit right-handed pitching in the lineup, and he has done just that to this point in his Kansas City career."
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Yastrzemski has struggled at the plate for most of the season, hitting .234/.328/.371 with nine home runs, 31 RBI and a .699 OPS. However, he does have a 2.2 WAR, and has performed well since joining the Royals.
The 34-year-old is the grandson of Hall-of-Famer and Boston Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski. He was originally drafted by the Red Sox in 2009 but did not sign. He was later drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2012 and again by the Baltimore Orioles the following year.
The outfielder made his Major League debut with the Giants back in 2019 and was a key piece of their 2021 team that won the National League West with 107 regular season victories. His veteran experience should help a young Royals club as they look to make a push towards the postseason for a second straight year.
He can provide power from the left side of the plate and can even play all three outfield positions. We'll see if he can keep up his hot start with the Royals.
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Curt Bishop is a freelance sports writer who graduated from Maryville University of St. Louis with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the field of Communication and currently writes as a contributor for various platforms covering Major League Baseball. Curt’s work includes covering trade and free agency predictions, as well as rumors and news.
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