Prospect Catcher Has Chance to Turn Heads

The Kansas City Royals had stars like Vinnie Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr., and Maikel Garcia catch fire in the World Baseball Classic. All of their top stars were on display and they seemingly brought a lot of good attention to the Royals during this event.

But there are plenty of other players in Kansas City to be excited about this season beyond the top names on the roster.

MLB.com’s Mike Petriello recently listed Royals backup catcher and top prospect Carter Jensen as one of the top breakout candidates of the season. Jensen received a little bit of playing time down the stretch last year and made the most of it.

Carter Jensen is a clear breakout candidate for the Royals

“The biggest roadblock for any Royals catching prospect is the presence of Salvador Perez, but at 36, Perez is spending more time at first base and DH, particularly as it seems Vinnie Pasquantino may be best suited to avoiding tough lefties,” Petriello wrote. “Jensen surely isn’t under-the-radar to Royals fans – he did win the organizational hitter of the year award last year, and he grew up in Kansas City to boot – but the greater baseball public might not quite be aware of him, yet.

“That, we think, might be a mistake. No, not because he had a .941 OPS in 69 late-season plate appearances, though that certainly helps. It’s because of how he got to that number, which is to say ‘he absolutely pulverized the baseball.’ Among players who had at least 50 plate appearances, Jensen’s barrel rate was the highest in the sport, where Judge, Ohtani, and Pete Alonso were next. We cannot stress enough that 69 plate appearances are something like 10% of what those stars took, and that in no way does this say that Jensen is as talented as they are.”

Jensen and veteran catcher Salvador Perez are expected to split time behind the plate, but it’s unlikely to work as a typical catcher platoon. Instead of starting one and benching the other, the Royals have the chance to start one and slot the other in as the designated hitter. This would allow for both players to play around 135 to 145 games this season.

Jensen came to the big leagues late last season and did nothing but punish baseballs. He was dominant in his short time with the Royals. Their confidence in him is well warranted and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him in the starting lineup on Opening Day. He has enough potential to force his way into the lineup this year, even with Perez as the main catcher.