Royals look to the future by shaking up roster with additions of O’Hearn, Zimmer and move of Dozier to outfield
The Royals didn’t just pull the trigger on a trade on Saturday afternoon. Their roster moves made it clear the Royals have shifted focus to developing the roster of the future.
Along with trading left-handed reliever Jake Diekman to the Oakland Athletics, the Royals also designated veteran first baseman Lucas Duda for assignment and recalled first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, and right-handed relief pitcher Kyle Zimmer to fill Diekman’s roster spot. The Royals recalled left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady prior to Friday’s game.
The shake-up didn’t stop with the additions and subtractions from the roster. Third baseman Hunter Dozier, who made a push to earn an American League All-Star selection earlier this season, will shift to the outfield where he figures to play “more often than not,” according to Royals manager Ned Yost
The Royals, 39-66 going into Saturday, made a big step geared towards the future by creating opportunities to maximize the playing time for players they’ve identified as possible pieces of their next playoff-contending team.
“It’s just ground floor stuff we want to keep building on,” Yost said. “Just getting the guys that we like and project to be here when things start to get to a point where we can compete. I feel like we’re getting closer every day to that.”
Saturday’s starting lineup included Dozier starting in right field and batting third, team home run leader Jorge Soler as the designated hitter in the cleanup spot, O’Hearn at first and batting fifth with Cheslor Cuthber playing third and batting sixth.
Shortstop Adalberto Mondesi’s injury opens room for Whit Merrifield to move from the outfield to second base regularly and push Nicky Lopez over to shortstop. That’ll allow rookie outfielder Bubba Starling to continue to play regularly with franchise cornerstone Alex Gordon in left field and Dozier playing right. Dozier is expected to still play some third base.
Dozier, who was on the field working with outfield coach Mitch Maier hours prior to Saturday’s game, has played just nine games as an outfielder in the majors — all in right field. His big-league debut in 2016 came as an outfielder.
Dozier has proven himself a bonafide middle-of-the-order hitter this season. He went into Saturday batting .286 with a .372 on-base percentage and a .538 slugging percentage (seventh-best in the AL) to go along with 16 home runs and 56 RBIs in 82 games.
“Hey, I’m fine with it,” Dozier said of the switch. “I’ve always said if I’m in the lineup, I’m okay with it. It will be fun. I haven’t played there in a long time, but it will be alright.”
By Dozier playing the outfield, he creates room for both Cuthbert and O’Hearn on the infield. Since being promoted from Triple-A Omaha on May 31, Cuthbert has the second-most hits (51) and RBIs (33) on the club and appears to have returned to the form that made the Royals view him as a successor to Mike Moustakas at third base.
O’Hearn began the season with the Royals before his offensive struggles — a slash line of .188/.286/.333 with six homers and 18 RBIs in 56 games — led to his demotion to Omaha on June 14.
“It was tough, no doubt,” O’Hearn said of his demotion. “There was probably a week, two-week period where I woke up every day and I was frustrated with it, but, at the same time, you’ve got to understand it’s part of the game and I’m not the first guy this has happened to.”
In the minors this season, O’Hearn posted a slash line of .295/.383/.597 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs in 35 games. O’Hearn said he worked on some “small swing stuff” that he worked on in the minors and making sure he stayed “under control” with his swing.
The addition of relief pitcher Josh Staumont and the return of relievers Lovelady and Zimmer were always part of the plans for the Royals. Coupled with the promotions this season of Lopez and Starling, the Royals roster has received a significant infusion of youth since the first month and a half of the season.
“This group of guys has been together for a while, spring trainings going back to 2017,” O’Hearn said. “We’ve come up together. There’s a lot of love in this room. I’m excited just to be back and see Cam (Gallagher), Doz, Nicky and all these guys that I’ve become brothers with over the years. I’m excited to have Zim back too. That’s awesome, a lot of excitement.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2019 at 5:52 PM.
