At 64-61, the Kansas City Royals are still in the hunt for a spot in the postseason, currently sitting 3.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. The Royals are also tied with AL Central foes, the Cleveland Guardians with a .512 winning percentage.
But what makes their position extremely interesting is that all three teams that are currently holding onto the wild card spots in the American League are also tied, with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Seattle Mariners all holding a .540 win percentage. That means that the Royals are not only 3.5 back of the third wild-card, but also the first, at least technically.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Kansas City also has the toughest remaining schedule of the bunch.
With that being the case, the Royals have made the decision to designate former A’s outfielder Mark Canha for assignment. The 36-year-old was acquired by the Royals from the Milwaukee Brewers back in March, and he was able to get into 46 games with the club in between stints on the IL, batting .212 with a .272 OBP and one home run in that time.
Early on in April, Canha was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left abductor strain that kept him out for ten days, but he would land back on the IL again on July 8 with left elbow epicondylitis. He began a rehab assignment a month later in Double-A, where he spent three games. After that, he was moved up to Triple-A where he went 6-for-27 (.222) with a .364 OBP in nine games.
On Monday, the Royals both activated him from the IL and designated him for assignment. Given his performance this season and where the Royals are in the standings, the move isn’t terribly shocking.
The Royals were certainly hoping for a little more from Canha when they acquired him, given that he’s been at the very least a league average bat each year since 2018, but this season–perhaps due to injuries–he’s been well below league average.
Canha was originally a seventh-round selection of the Miami Marlins out of the University of California in the 2010 MLB Draft, and was acquired by the A’s in the Rule 5 Draft in 2014. Technically he was selected by the Colorado Rockies, but he was immediately moved to the A’s for Austin House.
The fact that he wasn’t a top pick, and instead a Rule 5 guy that has turned in a ten-year career is extremely impressive, and makes him an easy guy to root for.
He’d remain with the A’s through the 2021 campaign, a season in which he led the Majors in being hit by pitches with 27. In his seven years with the team he was a 10.4 bWAR player and was an underrated part of an explosive A’s offense that also had Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Marcus Semien, Ramón Laureano, and at times, Jed Lowrie.
Since Canha went on the IL in July, the Royals offense has picked up a bit, holding a 108 wRC+ (100 is league average), and the addition of Mike Yastrzemski at the deadline has been paying off for them, as the former San Francisco Giant holds a 113 wRC+ through 14 games.
The playing time that had been allotted for Canha throughout the season just seemed to have been taken over in the time that he’s been out, unfortunately.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
