Royals kickstart offseason by adding familiar former first-rounder in outfield trade

For weeks now, the need that seems to be at the top of the Kansas City Royals’ winter shopping list is the outfield, after a 2025 season where they looked largely without answers at the plate.

And now, in the early days of the offseason, the Royals have already got the ball rolling in their outfield search by pulling off a November trade for a somewhat familiar name.

In the 33rd round of the 2016 MLB Draft, the Kansas City Royals drafted a Missouri native in Kameron Misner. However, instead of signing with the Royals, Misner honored his collegiate commitment to Missouri, which resulted in him getting drafted in the first-round three years later by the Miami Marlins.

Now, Kansas City has announced that they’ve finally reunited with Misner by pulling off a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, sending them either a player to be named later or cash considerations in return.

Misner might not be the most exciting and it remains to be seen what role Misner plays with the Royals in 2026, however, there’s no denying that the he has some tools that will be useful.

Royals make depth move by re-uniting with former first rounder Kameron Misner

Apart from a lackluster cup of coffee in the big leagues with the Rays in 2024, last season was Misner’s first real test in the majors. And upon first glance he didn’t appear to showcase that first round potential the Marlins likely saw in him when they made him the 35th overall pick in 2019.

In 217 plate appearances across 71 games with the Rays this past year, the 27-year-old slashed .213/.273/.345 with five homers, 22 RBI, eight stolen bases, a 31.8% strikeout rate and a 71 wRC+.

However, while the bat may not appear to be the solution to the Royals’ dreadful 73 wRC+ outfield, there are numerous tools along with a solid minor league track record that could make him solid depth piece for them next season.

He may not have showcased a ton with the bat this year, but he did demonstrate some solid baserunning abilities with 75th percentile sprint speed and a slightly above average BsR of 0.2. The basepaths were an area that they’d had real issues with this season, sitting amongst the bottom 10 in BsR with a -4.1 rating, a 12.9 point shift from their Top 10 total in 2024.

Then there’s his defense, which saw him post 5 DRS, 3 OAA, 79th percentile arm value and 85th percentile arm strength. Now, outfield defense wasn’t necessarily a weakness for Kansas City this season after Kyle Isbel was among the nine outfield Gold Glove finalists and they finished among the Top 10 in both outfield DRS and OAA, but you can never have too many good defenders.

Lastly, there’s the power, which lacked in the major leagues but was prevalent in his last three full seasons in the upper minors from 2022 to 2024, where he 15+ homers in each of those three campaigns in either Double-A Montgomery or Triple-A Durham. And we all know at this point how the Royals struggled with power at certain points of the season.

It certainly shouldn’t be the last move the Royals make to their outfield unit this winter, but considering they only surrendered a PTBNL or cash considerations for him, the addition of Misner does give them some “toolsy” depth to bolster their bench at relatively low cost.