On Monday, the International League announced that Omaha outfielder Kameron Misner was Player of the Week after a strong series in Columbus against the Clippers, the Triple-A organization of the Guardians.
In addition to five home runs, Misner also hit .417, scored eight runs, and collected 10 RBI in the past week.
Misner was acquired by the Royals this offseason after he was designated for assignment by the Rays in November. Kansas City traded a player to be named later in exchange for the former 2019 competitive round pick, and he’s on the 40-man roster. That said, despite playing in 71 games with the Rays a season ago, Misner has only played with the Omaha Storm Chasers this season.
That said, Misner has been excellent in Omaha at the plate, with his strong performance going beyond this past week in Columbus.
In 58 games and 249 plate appearances, the former Miami Marlins draft pick is slashing .278/.373/.552 with 13 home runs, 39 runs scored, 51 RBI, and 11 stolen bases on 12 attempts. He also has a .925 OPS, a .274 ISO, and 103 TJ Bat+. Safe to say, Misner has been the most complete hitter in Omaha, surpassing other more familiar names like John Rave, Abraham Toro, and Drew Waters.
That said, Royals fans have seen hitters succeed in Omaha, only to struggle in their transition to Kansas City.
Last season, in 217 plate appearances with the Tampa Bay Rays, Misner slashed .213/.273/.345 with a .618 OPS and had five home runs, 27 runs scored, 22 RBI, and eight stolen bases. An Achilles’ heel for Misner was his strikeout rate, as he struck out 31.8% of the time and only walked 7.4% of the time. That produced a TJ Bat+ of 72, which was pretty below average.
Hence, is Misner just a good Four-A player? Or is he a late bloomer who could provide a spark to a Royals lineup that has been better recently, but still ranks 27th in OPS and 28th in runs scored?
Let’s dive deeper into what Misner is doing in Omaha, what he did last year in Tampa Bay, and what his role could be with the Royals, if given the opportunity.
Misner Showing Power, Patience, and Speed With Storm Chasers
When looking at Misner’s stat line, there’s a lot to be encouraged about. Not only is he hitting for power, but he’s showing plate patience and better contact ability than he did a year ago. That is evident in his Statcast percentile summary below via TJ Stats.
What has made Misner so effective in Omaha is his ability not just to launch the ball (99th percentile LA Sweet-Spot%), but to pull the ball in the air as well. That ability has helped him overcome an inconsistent hard-hit rate (52nd percentile) and still produce strong barrel rates (82nd percentile) and wOBA numbers (84th percentile).
In addition, the 28-year-old outfielder has been particularly hot at the plate since May 20th, as Baseball Unstitched pointed out on Twitter on Sunday.
The main issue with Misner’s profile in Omaha is that he’s still chasing and whiffing a lot in Triple-A.
According to TJ Stats, his 29.8% O-Swing% ranks in the 26th percentile, and his 26.8% K% ranks in the 16th percentile. His whiff% and Z-contact% rank in the 38th and 39th percentile, which is better than his O-Swing% and K% rankings. That said, they are still below-average marks and areas of concern that could get exposed when facing better pitching at the Major League level.
A surprising trait of Misner’s game this year has been his baserunning, especially when it comes to stolen bases.
In 58 games, the former Mizzou Tiger has 11 stolen bases on 12 attempts, which shows how efficient he’s been when it comes to swiping bases. While Bobby Witt Jr. has 23 stolen bases, no other Royals player has more than five (which is Kyle Isbel). Thus, Misner could provide some sneaky speed on the basepaths if allowed to play in Kansas City this year.
Misner Struggled in His Extended Stint With the Rays Last Year
While Misner has demonstrated that he can master the Triple-A level, it’s been a different story for him at the Major League level.
After playing only 8 games in 2024, Misner played 71 games and had 217 plate appearances with Tampa Bay after making the Opening Day roster a season ago.
He got off to a hot start with Tampa Bay in 2025. In 84 plate appearances in March/April, he hit .320 with a .929 OPS and 153 wRC+. He also hit three home runs, including this one below against Boston on April 14th.
Unfortunately, he tailed off after a strong month of play. In May, he hit .138 with a 15 wRC+, and in June, he hit .167 with a 26 wRC+. As a result, he was optioned to Triple-A Durham and didn’t return to Tampa Bay for the remainder of the season.
When looking at his TJ Statcast Summary last year, Misner struggled in most categories and seemed overwhelmed by Major League pitching once they adjusted to him, as illustrated in his K% and Whiff%, just to name a couple.
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Misner ranked below the 10th percentile in the following categories: K%, Z-Contact%, whiff%, LA Sweet-Spot%, Hard-Hit%, and xwOBA. It’s hard for a player to stay up at the Major League level with poor rankings like that in so many key categories.
Furthermore, when looking at his spray chart from last year, a lot of batted balls to the outfield were hit to the center and center-left gap, as seen below.
That typically shows that a hitter is not “locked in” on a pitcher and is late to the ball. Furthermore, so many of those gray dots mean that many of the batted balls to the center or opposite field were outs, which also indicates a lack of quality contact on those pitches.
A big change for Misner in Triple-A this year is that his LA Sweet-Spot% is 17.5% higher, and his Pull Air% is 7.7% higher. While that’s comparing Triple-A to MLB at-bats, it’s still encouraging that Misner is at least making adjustments in his new surroundings with the Royals organization.
Does Misner Fit in the Royals’ Outfield Right Now?
The main issue with Misner is that he’s left-handed, and the Royals have a plethora of left-handed bats. Misner is also better utilized as a corner outfielder, and he’s blocked by Isaac Collins and Jac Caglianone, who have been two of the better-performing outfielders this year, as illustrated by wRC+.
Caglianone has been the best-performing regular outfielder by both fWAR (0.5) and wRC+ (108) standards. Marte has been great by wRC+ standards, but his sample size is small, with only 42 plate appearances. Lastly, Collins has been decent offensively with a 93 wRC+, but his lackluster defense (though better lately) is one reason his -0.2 fWAR is the worst mark among Royals outfielders with 10 or more plate appearances this year.
An opportunity that could open up a spot for Misner is if Cags goes on the IL or needs some extended time at DH due to a shoulder injury. The former Florida product was pulled from Saturday’s game and didn’t play Sunday due to a minor shoulder injury suffered in Friday night’s game, as reported by Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
Moving Cags to DH and giving Misner some time in the outfield could make sense, though it does seem like manager Matt Quatraro prefers Lane Thomas in right field in those games when Cags is not in the lineup against righties. While Thomas’ 90 wRC+ isn’t great, he’s hitting better recently, and he’s a walk machine (16.3% BB%).
Thus, the most likely scenario for a Misner call-up would be if Cags moves to the IL, which doesn’t seem likely but could happen if his shoulder doesn’t improve in time by Tuesday’s game.
Cags’ injury status will be worth watching out for on Tuesday. If he does get added to the IL, do not be surprised if Misner, who’s already on the 40-man roster, gets the promotion from Omaha.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalskeep.com ’
