Royals’ roster is set, and Bubba Starling leads group of first-timers on list of 30
For the first time in his professional baseball career, former Gardner Edgerton High three-sport phenom Bubba Starling has made the Kansas City Royals’ Opening Day roster.
He joins 13 other Royals players who’ve made the club out of camp for the first time.
Major League Baseball’s pandemic-shortened 60-game season starts Thursday night with a pair of games. The Royals will begin their season Friday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland against the Indians at 6:10 p.m. as part of a full slate of MLB games.
Teams had to submit their 30-man Opening Day rosters by Thursday, and the Royals released theirs around 12:17 p.m. Central Time.
There were no big surprises. Right-handed relief pitcher Greg Holland, who signed a minor-league contract this winter and played on the World Series teams of 2014 and 2015, made the the roster in his second stint with the club.
Recently acquired outfielder Franchy Cordero and right-handed pitcher Ronald Bolaños, who arrived from the San Diego Padres in the Timmy Hill trade, are both on the roster, too, as is recently signed catcher Óscar Hernández.
Several key Royals, such outfielder Hunter Dozier, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and right-handed pitchers Jakob Junis and Brad Keller and backup catcher Cam Gallagher, will begin the season on the injured list as they work their way back from COVID-19 infections.
Dozier’s was the team’s most recently announced positive case. The club revealed his positive test Wednesday morning. He was the eight player the Royals have announced as testing positive for the coronavirus. Players must give the team permission in order for the club to reveal a positive test result.
Highly touted pitching prospects and 2018 top draft pick Brady Singer, Saturday’s starting pitcher, is not currently on the 30-man roster. The Royals will have to make a roster move to add him before his start in Cleveland, when he will make his MLB debut. To date, Singer has not pitched above Double-A.
First baseman Ryan McBroom, acquired in a trade with the New York Yankees at the end of August last year, also makes his first Opening Day roster, as does super-utility man Erick Mejia, the organization’s Triple-A Player of the Year in 2019.
The 14 players on the Royals’ Opening Day roster for the first time include left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin, infielder Nicky Lopez, left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady, outfielder Brett Phillips, right-handed pitcher Glenn Sparkman, left-handed pitcher Gabe Speier, right-handed pitcher Josh Staumont, catcher Meibrys Viloria, right-handed pitcher Tyler Zuber as well as Bolaños, Hernández, McBroom, Mejia and Starling.
Among that group, Griffin and Zuber are the only players who have not yet made their MLB debuts.
A flurry of roster moves accompanied the release of the Royals’ roster Thursday.
They placed right-handed pitcher Chance Adams and left-handed pitcher Randy Rosario on the 10-day IL (retroactive to July 20) and placed right-handed pitcher Jesse Hahn on the Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List. Viloria was returned from his rehab assignment, reinstated from the Injured List and recalled; and KC also selected the contracts of Mejia, Holland, Zuber and Hernández and recalled Bolaños, Cordero, Griffin, Speier and right-handed pitcher Kyle Zimmer
Royals’ 30-man roster
Pitchers: RHP Scott Barlow, RHP Ronald Bolaños, LHP Danny Duffy, LHP Foster Griffin, RHP Greg Holland, RHP Ian Kennedy, RHP Jorge Lopez, LHP Richard Lovelady, RHP Kevin McCarthy, LHP Mike Montgomery, RHP Trevor Rosenthal, RHP Glenn Sparkman, LHP Gabe Speier, RHP Josh Staumont, RHP Kyle Zimmer, RHP Tyler Zuber.
Catchers: Óscar Hernández, Salvador Perez, Meibrys Viloria.
Infielders: Maikel Franco, Nicky Lopez, Ryan McBroom, Adalberto Mondesi.
Outfielders: Franchy Cordero, Alex Gordon, Erick Mejia, Whit Merrifield, Brett Phillips, Jorge Soler, Bubba Starling.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Royals’ roster is set, and Bubba Starling leads group of first-timers on list of 30."
