Carlos Santana waived, 2026 Opening Day, future battery in Omaha

The Kansas City Royals are in the thick of an intense American League Wild Card race. While fans primary focus will all but likely be on their uphill battle into the postseason spots, there are some other headlines they should be aware of as the MLB season gets set to enter it’s final month.

From old friends in search of new opportunities, to a glimpse into next season, to an even further glimpse into the longer term future of this roster, it’s been a busy week for Royals news.

Royals News: Cleveland Guardians waive former KC first baseman Carlos Santana

On Tuesday afternoon, Kansas City’s division rival, the Cleveland Guardians, waived veteran first baseman and former Royal Carlos Santana, according to Ken Rosenthal and Zack Meisel of The Athletic.

Santana’s waiving comes off the back of what had been an underwhelming return to the Guardians in 2025 after having such a productive 113 wRC+ season with the Twins last year. In 455 plate appearances across 116 games this season, the 39-year-old slashed .225/.316/.333 with 11 home runs, 52 RBI and just an 86 wRC+.

Despite his third-go around with the Guardians not necessarily going to plan, Santana is certainly most known for his time in Cleveland, as he was a key fixture in their lineup from 2010-2017 – including, of course, that 2016 AL pennant winning team – and then would return in 2019 for two seasons after a brief year-long hiatus in Philadelphia.

Between his second and third stints is when Royals fans will be fondly familiar of him. However, the memories won’t be overly fond as in his lone season in Kansas City in 2021, Santana only managed to slash .214/.319/.342 with 19 homers, 69 RBI and an 81 wRC+.

Royals News: Kansas City to unconventionally open the 2026 season in Atlanta

After MLB released their 2026 schedule on Tuesday, there were certainly plenty of storylines to be had on what’s in store for the Royals next season.

One of those happens to be the rather unconventional Opening Day matchup Kansas City will see from March 26 to 29 next year. As opposed to the all AL Central home matchup the Royals saw to open the 2025 campaign against the Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City will open 2026’s festivities on the road in Atlanta for a three-game interleague series against the Braves.

The Royals fared well against the struggling Braves when they came to town this season in late July, taking two of three against them amid a year where the Braves have looked far from their usual NL East-giant selves.

Royals News: Promising battery of Carter Jensen and Ben Kudrna team up in Triple-A Omaha

Finally we round off with some prospect news, as Royals fans got a glimpse into the future in Triple-A on Tuesday when a pair of top 10 prospects formed a star-studded minor league battery

Omaha sent right-hander Ben Kudrna to the mound to open the week against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, where Carter Jensen would be his battery-mate behind the plate.

As exciting as this local duo seemed to be entering the contest, the two had very differing performances.

Jensen looked like his usual phenomenal self, going 3-for-4 with two homers, five RBI and a walk. He continued to strengthen his case for a late-season major league promotion, as he’s now slashing .286/.401/.643 with 13 home runs, 36 RBI and a 163 wRC+ in 39 games in Omaha this year.

Kudrna on the other hand, wasn’t able to make-up for a rough tail-end of his debut start in Triple-A last week, as his second turn through the Storm Chasers rotation looked far worse.

He only managed to throw 2.1 innings, surrendering six earned runs on five hits, one homer, five walks and just three strikeouts.

It’s probably safe to chalk this outing up as growing pains, as the minor league can often rear it’s sometimes ugly head to freshly promoted players.