Michael Massey’s Royals return creates an awkward roster puzzle

Amidst the fanfare of the Kansas City Royals getting back in the win column on Monday against the Guardians after a dropping their weekend series to the Brewers, a roster move was made before the new week’s action even got underway.

The long-awaited return of late 2025 and 2026 spring training standout Michael Massey finally occured with the team activating him from the injured list.

However, there’s several questions to be had after the move was made. Where will Massey play now that he gets back? Why did the Royals make the corresponding move that they did? And was it the right one?

Overall, no matter how you look at it, Massey’s return is more awkward than anyone could’ve imagined.

Jonathan India’s resurgence has left Michael Massey without a position

Before we dicuss the actual roster move made to allow for Massey’s return, let’s dicuss the fact that Massey’s role is uncertain.

After both underwhelmed in 2025, both Massey and fellow second baseman Jonathan India have displayed notable past potential at the very least to warrant the thought of a platoon at second base this season.

However, since Massey has been on the IL, after a slow start to the year, India has come into his own in the recent stretch, as he’s starting to finally show his worth with the Royals.

Through 32 plate appearances across eight games, India is slashing .250/.344/.464 with a pair of homers – including the difference-making two-run blast on Monday – eight RBI and a 131 wRC+.

With stats like these, India looks too strong for a platoon right now and it appears Matt Quatraro and the Royals’ brain trust feels the same way, as he’s started over Massey in the first two games since his return.

Luckily his ability to patrol the corner outfield gives him a few more options to see some game time, but regular play seems far-fetched for him for the time being.

Massey’s return also resulted in a head-scratching corresponding move

When one name comes onto the roster, another needs to exit it and in this case the corresponding move was utility man Nick Loftin heading to Triple-A Omaha.

As much as Loftin was a bench piece at the end of the day, the Royals have traditionally been a team that relies upon their versatility and Loftin provides just that with the ability to play all around the infield and the corner outfield.

And from an offensive perspective, after being one of the Royals’ best hitters in spring training, Loftin also looked decent at the plate in his limited run time in the regular season so far. In 11 plate appearances, he’s sporting a 108 wRC+ thanks to things like 18.2% walk rate and 9.1% K-rate.

Now, his .222 AVG and .697 OPS aren’t exceptional by any means, but considering Tyler Tolbert was also on this roster and appears to be a pinch running and defensive replacement option, this move was an eyebrow-raiser. It has essentially left the Royals with just 12 different bats to choose from in any given game.

Instead of adding another bat to the roster to make it the traditional 13, the Royals opted to value baserunning and defense over offense.

It’s not as if those attributes aren’t important, but given the Royals’ traditionally questionable offense, Loftin and Massey would’ve done far more damage than Tolbert and Massey, even if Tolbert can play center field.

Time will tell if the Royals made the right move, but upon first glance, it appears the wrong name might be on his way down to Omaha in place of Massey.