The Kansas City Royals acquired right-handed pitcher Easton McGee from the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday in exchange for cash considerations.
McGee has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Royals transferred right-hander Nick Mears to the 60-day injured list.
What does Easton McGee bring to the Royals?
McGee was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft. The 28-year-old has spent time with the Rays, Seattle Mariners and Brewers before joining the Royals organization.
The right-hander has a 6-foot-7, 222-pound frame that makes his presence known on the mound. While McGee doesn’t have much major league experience, he has spent time in the big leagues.
He has logged 26 1/3 innings since making his MLB debut with Tampa Bay in 2022. Across that span, McGee owns a 3.08 ERA with 17 strikeouts, seven walks and a .219 opponents’ batting average.
So far this season, McGee has appeared in two major league innings for Milwaukee. He has spent most of the year with Triple-A Nashville, where he has logged 41 2/3 innings with a 5.62 ERA and 43 strikeouts.
McGee features a six-pitch arsenal consisting of a cutter, sinker, curveball, four-seam fastball, sweeper and changeup. His cutter serves as his primary pitch among the six.
This mix of pitches has hitters chasing quite often, as shown by McGee’s 34.1% chase rate, according to Prospect Savant. He is also a strike-thrower, ranking in the 93rd percentile with a 67.7% strike rate.
The other side of this move was Mears being transferred to the 60-day injured list. This has been an injury-plagued season for Kansas City, and it feels like it just keeps getting worse.
Mears was placed on the 15-day injured list in late May with a right shoulder impingement. Now, with the transfer to the 60-day injured list, he will be sidelined until at least July 27. So far this season, the right-hander has logged 19 1/3 innings with a 5.12 ERA.
It has not been the hottest start to his campaign in Kansas City since arriving this past offseason, but the hope is he can come back stronger. In the meantime, the Royals added a new face in McGee to help bolster an injury-plagued pitching staff.
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