The Royals’ outfield is about to get a little more crowded

As the Royals navigate the final month of a toilsome year, the objective will focus on preparation for the future. They will take advantage of the opportunity to offer a group of young players regular at-bats against major-league pitching, enhancing their development before the offseason.

In that vein, the options in the outfield could soon be plentiful.

Brian Goodwin is scheduled to join the big-league club Saturday, and Jorge Soler is slated for a return three days later, Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Goodwin has been on the disabled list since July 31 with a left groin strain. Soler has been out since mid-June with a fractured toe.

“Guys that lost playing time from injury like Goodwin and Soler, it’s good to get them back in the swing (of things) and get them back on the field before the season ends,” Yost said.

Goodwin, acquired in a trade with the Washington Nationals on July 22, has been on a rehab assignment with Class-AAA Omaha since Aug. 16. After a slow start there, he is 4 for 12 with four doubles and five RBIs in the past three games.

Soler played his first game with Omaha on Monday, going 1 for 4 with three strikeouts. The Omaha Storm Chasers’ season ends Sept. 3, supplying Soler with only a week of plate appearances before joining the Royals. That’s not all that many for a player who has missed more than two months, but the club would like Soler to get his timing back at the plate before the winter.

Soler is unlikely to play in the outfield and will squeeze into the lineup as a designated hitter. But that will still push a couple of regular designated hitter options back into the outfield mix. Jorge Bonifacio was serving as the DH on Tuesday, batting cleanup. His preferred position is right field.

In addition to mainstay Alex Gordon, the Royals will soon have Bonifacio, Goodwin, Rosell Herrera and Brett Phillips as options in the outfield. In recent weeks, Yost has been shuffling the lineup regularly to divvy up plate appearances, a tactic he will prolong into September.

“It will always be a challenge, but we’ll figure it out,” Yost said. “Just move it around like we’ve been doing.”

Goodwin, 27, was 8 for 17 with the Royals, including a home run and a double, before suffering the groin strain.

After the majority of his first season in the Kansas City organization was spent with Omaha, Soler found more success before the toe injury. He was batting .265 with nine home runs and 18 doubles across 223 at-bats.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 6:33 PM.