Royals’ Adalberto Mondesi set to start rehab assignment
Royals budding star shortstop Adalberto Mondesi will take a big step towards returning from the Injured List this weekend. Royals manager Ned Yost said Mondesi will begin a rehab assignment on the road with Class AA Northwest Arkansas on Saturday.
Mondesi is expected to serve as designated hitter in the first game of his rehab assignment, which will take place in Springfield, Mo., against the Springfield Cardinals.
Mondesi hasn’t played since coming out of the second game of a three-game series in Seattle on June 18 after straining his groin. Mondesi had felt tightness in the area earlier in the week, but continued to play through it after a day off in Minnesota.
He went on the IL on June 20 (retroactive to June 19).
Despite being sidelined for the past eight games, Mondesi still leads Major League Baseball in stolen bases (27) and triples (eight). He’s batting .269 with six home runs, 44 RBIs, a .302 on-base percentage and a .442 slugging percentage.
It’s not clear how long Mondesi’s rehab assignment will last.
Back to the Future: MLB selected the Royals’ top-rated prospect, right-handed pitcher Brady Singer, to participate in the All-Star Futures Game on July 7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the site of this year’s MLB All-Star Game.
This year, the format of the game will feature American League versus National League. Previously, the format had been U.S. versus The World. This year’s game will also be shortened from nine to seven innings for the first time since the inaugural contest (1999).
Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier participated in the 2016 Futures Game in San Diego after having begun the season at Class AA and moved up to Class AAA. He made his debut in the majors in September of that year.
“It was a really cool experience,” Dozier said. “It just give you a one-day taste of kinda what the big leagues is like, a lot of good players, really fun atmosphere, San Diego was awesome. I had nothing but really good experiences from it.”
Singer, who is in his first professional season, began this season at High-A Wilmington before earning a promotion to Class AA Northwest Arkansas. Overall this season, Singer has gone 7-2 with a 3.14 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 22 walks, a .267 opponent’s batting average, five home runs allowed and a 1.26 WHIP in 15 starts (80 1/3 innings).
Dozier played in the field behind Singer during a recent rehab assignment with Northwest Arkansas.
“You could definitely tell he’s got really good stuff,” Dozier said. “His (velocity) is good. You can tell he’s a pretty special pitcher once he puts it all together. I was really impressed with him and what I saw. First thing I noticed, he was a really good guy. Looked like a professional, acted like a professional. I’m pulling for him.”
A rousing campaign: Dozier’s bid to get voted in as the American League’s starting third baseman came up short. The Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman, who started at third base in the Futures Game that Dozier played in 2016, received 49.1 percent of the fan vote in the runoff election. Dozier received 27.6 percent of the vote.
Dozier entered this weekend’s series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a slash line of .297/.380/.574 and 13 home runs and 42 RBIs in 58 games.
“Congrats to Bregman,” Dozier said. “He’s one of the best third basemen in this league, no doubt. He definitely deserves that.
“It was really cool to experience that, to see all the support Kansas City and my friends, family, teammates and everyone showed me. It was really cool, really humbling. It was a really special couple weeks seeing everyone vote and stuff.”
The All-Star reserves will be announced on Sunday. The rosters will be filled out through a combination of players voting and the commissioner’s office.
This story was originally published June 28, 2019 at 5:47 PM.
