The Royals are looking to add a right-handed hitter, reports Jayson Stark of the Athletic (via Ken Rosenthal’s latest column). The Angels’ Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward are under consideration, as is Washington’s Lane Thomas.
Rengifo is a switch-hitter who does more damage from the right side. Ward and Thomas are strictly right-handed bats. Rengifo is the most valuable of the trio. He’s having the best season of the group and provides the most defensive flexibility. Rengifo isn’t a great defender but he can bounce between second and third base and moonlight at shortstop. He wouldn’t need to worry about the latter position in Kansas City. The Royals have gotten very little offense out of Maikel Garcia at the hot corner. Lefty-swinging second baseman Michael Massey was playing well early in the season before slumping this month.
The 27-year-old Rengifo would be a significant offensive upgrade. He goes into play tonight with a .308/.352/.432 slash across 285 plate appearances. It’s his second straight above-average offensive performance. Rengifo makes a ton of contact, fitting the Royals’ general style of hitter. He topped 15 homers in both 2022 and ’23. This year’s production has been more OBP-oriented as he has cut his strikeout rate to a personal-low 13% clip. Over the past two and a half seasons, he owns a massive .328/.368/.555 slash against left-handed pitching.
Thomas and Ward have a more limited defensive profile as corner outfielders. The Royals could certainly look to upgrade in left field, where MJ Melendez was underperforming before landing on the injured list. Thomas might be more of a platoon target. He mashes southpaws but posts below-average numbers against same-handed pitching. Since landing in Washington at the 2021 trade deadline, he has tattooed lefties at a .310/.371/.525 clip. He’s hitting .231/.294/.398 versus righties in that time. Thomas has had similarly stark splits this season and has a league average .247/.323/.397 slash in aggregate.
Ward has looked like an All-Star caliber player at his best, highlighted by a .281/.360/.473 season two years ago. His production has been more pedestrian over the past season and a half, as his line has hovered around league average. Over 424 plate appearances this year, the former first-round pick has a .226/.309/.396 line. As with Thomas, Ward does an inordinate amount of his damage with the platoon advantage. He’s hitting .294/.365/.468 against lefties since the start of 2022. His .243/.328/.423 slash versus right-handed pitching over that stretch is more solid than elite.
All three players are under team control beyond this season. (Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweeted this afternoon that the Royals would be reluctant to relinquish players at the top of their thin farm system for rentals.) Rengifo and Thomas are eligible for arbitration through next year, while Ward is controllable until the 2026-27 offseason. They’re each similarly costly from a financial perspective. Rengifo’s the lowest-paid of the group at $4.4MM, while Thomas is most expensive at $5.45MM. The prospect cost should be highest for Rengifo, who’ll have broad appeal in a market that’s very light on infield talent.