A pretty impressive journeyman career is set to continue with the Kansas City Royals in 2026.
Catcher Jorge Alfaro was once a reasonably important prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies’ system, and he was traded in the J.T. Realmuto deal alongside Sixto Sánchez. That started a string of Alfaro joining seven organizations in the span of seven seasons, most recently ending 2025 with the Washington Nationals.
There’s no guarantee he makes it back to the majors this year, but Alfaro is reportedly heading to Kansas City to try for a 10th season in the big leagues.
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Jorge Alfaro heads to Kansas City
On Monday, Aram Leighton of Just Baseball reported that Alfaro and the Royals agreed on a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training. He’ll head to Arizona as a long shot for the big-league roster and will almost certainly start the year in Triple-A unless he has some sort of opt-out.
The story of Alfaro’s career has been one of decent power, high strikeout rates, and not a lot of defense behind the plate. In a way, he fits the modern-day Salvador Perez archetype, but he’s a lot worse at all three of those things.
In Triple-A this season, Alfaro slashed .244/.285/.430 in 82 games. He was in the Milwaukee Brewers organization for that stint, then played for the Washington Nationals in the majors in September, hitting .256 without a home run in 14 games.
Alfaro’s other major league teams include the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, and Colorado Rockies.
The Royals have their aging franchise icon in Perez and exciting youngster Carter Jensen ready to split time behind the plate this year, so unless there’s an unexpected injury, it’s hard to believe that Alfaro will factor into the mix. Kansas City also has Blake Mitchell, a former first-round pick who is probably a year or so away from making his major league debut, and another decent catching prospect in Ramon Ramirez.
Sometimes, players on minor-league deals perform well enough to sign with other teams in the majors in the middle of the season, and that’s probably the best-case scenario for Alfaro here.
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