Royals’ roster decision sends Erick Mejia back down but opens a door for Nick Heath
The Kansas City Royals, like all Major League Baseball clubs, had to cut their 30-man roster to 28 players Thursday.
Tough decisions were made across the majors. In the Royals’ case, that meant sending super-utility, do-everything infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia, the organization’s Triple-A Player of the Year in 2019, to their alternate training site at T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kan., where he can play regularly in simulated and intrasquad games.
Meanwhile, outfielder/pinch runner Nick Heath will get to stay in the big leagues and receive more opportunities to prove his value.
Per the rules of the pandemic-shortened season, each MLB team was initially allotted a 30-man roster. Original plans called for rosters to be reduced to 28 players two weeks into the season and 26 two weeks after that.
MLB announced Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with the players’ union to keep rosters at 28 for the remainder of this season, with a 29th available for doubleheaders.
Mejia, a 25-year-old switch-hitter, played in just six games (one start) and had eight at-bats without a hit.
But he played a key role in the team’s extra-inning win against the Cleveland Indians on July 25. Mejia’s pinch-hit sacrifice bunt in the 10th inning set up Maikel Franco’s sacrifice fly to drive in the winning run.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said he’s had Mejia ready to step in as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement numerous times this season, but the situations he’d anticipated didn’t unfold for him to use Mejia.
Matheny has praised Mejia’s versatility, intelligence and professionalism since early in the club’s Arizona spring training camp.
Mejia was arguably the Royals’ hottest hitter during intrasquad play in the team’s spring training 2.0 camp in Kansas City.
“At this point too, to put him in there almost isn’t fair to him,” Matheny said. “You let him go stale. When you’re chasing every one of these wins like we have been until really late in the game, we’re running after it with the very best we have at that particular time and not make a lot of changes. We need to get him locked in again.”
The Royals also had to make room to activate right-handed pitcher Brad Keller from the injured list in advance of his first start of the season Thursday.
The Royals also optioned catcher Meibrys Viloria and right-handed pitcher Scott Blewett to their alternate training site Thursday.
The Royals retain flexibility with Whit Merrifield capable of playing infield or outfield and second baseman Nicky Lopez able to play either middle infield spot.
Heath, promoted to the majors for the first time on July 28, has appeared in three games as a late-game replacement or pinch-runner.
“He’s a weapon,” Matheny said of Heath. “I don’t know if the camera catches how many times he’s got his helmet on and standing on the top step. It’s almost every one of these games we’ve been forced into that. We saw that put into play in Chicago, and it was beautiful.”
Matheny was referencing Tuesday night’s loss to the Cubs, in which the potential tying run got to third base in the ninth inning after Heath stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher.
The left-handed hitting speedster has had just one plate appearance (a strikeout), but he has a stolen base as a pinch-runner.
Heath, 26, led all of Minor League Baseball with 60 stolen bases last season in 73 attempts. The Royals added Heath, a graduate of Junction City High School in Kansas, to their 40-man roster this winter and he attended big-league spring training for the first time this year.
The Royals placed center fielder Bubba Starling on the injured list with an undisclosed injury Wednesday, the same day outfielder Franchy Cordero suffered a wrist injury during batting practice.
Heath appeared in the Royals’ starting lineup for the first time Thursday in center field against the Chicago Cubs at Kauffman.
“We’re trying to get more looks here at him,” Matheny said. “That’s why he’s in the starting lineup today, knowing that he’s an exciting player with an incredible skill set. How can that potentially play in?
“We just got to make sure he’s going through the type of (grinding) at-bats we’re talking about. We don’t need him to be a guy that goes up and swings from his backside. I see a lot of things going in a positive direction. Hopefully, we can get him to be a spark for us.”
