Royals acquire pitcher from Phillies, add him to major-league roster
The Royals added to their major-league roster Wednesday, claiming right-handed pitcher Ben Lively off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Lively will report to the Royals, the team announced. To make room for him on their 40-man roster, the Royals designated left-handed pitcher Eric Stout for assignment.
Lively, 26, made five starts for the Phillies this year, posting a 6.85 earned run average, before landing on the disabled list in June with a right shoulder sprain. He opened a rehab assignment in August, during which he transitioned to the bullpen. In six appearances on the rehab spell, he allowed one run in eight innings.
Lively will have at least one familiar face in the Royals clubhouse. He was college teammates with pitcher Eric Skoglund at Central Florida.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New Royals pitcher Ben Lively pitched at Central Florida and was teammates with Eric Skoglund. They were at last week's UCF football game. <a href="https://t.co/CVng30vkON">https://t.co/CVng30vkON</a></p>— Pete Grathoff (@pgrathoff) <a href="https://twitter.com/pgrathoff/status/1037414057639374848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sam McDowell
Sam McDowell covers Sporting Kansas City, the Royals, Chiefs and sports enterprise for The Star
This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Royals acquire pitcher from Phillies, add him to major-league roster."