Finally in playoff contention after so many seasons spent on the outside looking in, the Kansas City Royals went looking for stretch run outfield help late in the 2024 season.
They seemed to find it by adding Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman on waiver claims just in time to make them eligible for postseason play. But neither player added much to the club’s shaky offense, and neither returned for the 2025 campaign.
Now, the Royals find themselves embarking on another outfield search, but with a different twist — they still need more production from the corners, but that includes finding someone to platoon with ultra-disappointing Jac Caglianone in right.
It’s an unusual step to take with a potential superstar in the making, but Caglianone’s poor rookie campaign made it a probable necessity — at least in the short term.
And the journeyman Pham, who’s played for 10 teams in a dozen big league seasons, is an available free agent right-handed bat, at first glance ripe for inclusion in KC general manager J.J. Picollo’s quest to bring more production to the club’s outfield.
But being on the market doesn’t mean Pham should be high on Picollo’s right field platoon wish list. He shouldn’t.
Tommy Pham isn’t a good candidate for a Royals platoon with Jac Caglianone
Pham, who disappointingly slashed .228/.250/.337 after joining Kansas City for the final month of the 2024 regular season, meets the threshold requirement for platooning with Caglianone — he bats right-handed. That, though, isn’t the only box the successful candidate must check. Caglianone’s right field partner has to consistently hit left-handers well.
Recent history suggests Pham’s ability to do that is too questionable. Yes, he has a serviceable .261 career average and excellent career .368 OBP versus southpaws, but his more recent record isn’t as good.
Against lefties he hit .216 in 2025 and .222 in 2024. Pham did bat .273 versus left-handers in 2022, but that was after they held him to .202 the year before. His .340 in 2019 was excellent, but that was six years ago, and the 21-game .300 mark he posted during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign is certainly a small sample.
The story is somewhat similar when it comes to Pham’s power — although he’s hit at least 21 homers three times, and 16 in 2023, 17 in 2022 and 15 in 2021, he dropped off to nine in 2024 — including two with the Royals — and 10 with Pittsburgh this past season.
Against all pitching, Pham hasn’t hit at least .270 since 2019, when he batted .273 for Tampa Bay.
Defensively, he’s a career -21 OAA and -2 DRS outfielder, with marks of -4 and -6 in right field, where platooning with Caglianone will require him to play.
Pham’s age also isn’t a positive — he’ll turn 38 midway trough spring training.
Some may argue that Kansas City needs an outfielder with stellar numbers for its right field platoon if he’s not going to play regularly. Because most big league pitchers are righties, Caglianone will still get the bulk of playing time in right, but the Royals’ offense is so inconsistent — especially in the outfield — that soft production, even from a part-timer, is something they can ill afford.
All things considered, then, Pham shouldn’t be a candidate to share right field with Caglianone.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
