Royals fans may not have to wait long to see latest spring training roster cut in MLB

After sending a trio of pitchers to minor league camp over on Saturday, most notably Ben Kudrna and Steven Zobac, the Kansas City Royals made their next batch of roster cuts on Sunday.

While the catching duo of Blake Mitchell and Ramón Ramírez weren’t surprises by any means, considering neither have appeared above High-A, one name that may’ve been a bit more a surprise (while still being justified) was Carson Roccaforte.

Given how uncertain the Royals outfield has looked in recent years, there was at least an outside chance that someone like Roccaforte could’ve been a big league roster option with a very strong spring.

However, despite Roccafrote being reassigned to minor league camp, fans may not have to wait long to see the prospect standout get a shot at the majors.

A 2026 Royals call-up could certainly be in the cards for Carson Roccaforte

Now, Roccaforte didn’t necessarily blow the Royals decision making away so far this spring, hitting just .200 with a 99 wRC+. However despite some major mediocre metrics, there were also several facets of his game that have looked very encouraging.

For starters, the pate discipline has been excellent against big league talent this spring, as he’s sporting a .385 OBP and 23.1% walk rate compared to just a 15.4% K-rate.

On top of that, an 84.2% contact rate, while possibly skewed due to the small sample size, was at the very least an encouraging sign of his bat-to-ball abilities at the plate.

This comes off the heels of a very productive season in the minor leagues last year, which started well in High-A Quad Cities with a 136 wRC+ and was capped off by a .290/.387/.475 and 141 wRC+ performance in his first taste of the upper minors in Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

On top of this, he has the asset of speed, which after the loss of Dairon Blanco, could be of more use to the Royals than it was just over a week ago. In 2025, across all stops in the minors, Roccaforte swiped 43 bags.

He also has the luxury of playing not only a premium position but one that the Royals could use an upgrade at. This of course is center field, with Kyle Isbel coming off yet another poor offensive season and posting just a 76 wRC+ so far in spring training.

Obviously with just 45 games at Double-A under his belt, the Royals don’t need (or should) rush Roccaforte to the majors. That being said, all he’s done is hit at every level and hold his own defensively so far in his professional career, so if he continues to that in 2026, J.J. Picollo and Co. may not have much of a choice then to let the soon-to-be 24-year-old get some run in the majors.