The Kansas City Royals have their emergency backup catcher back for a second season.
No Royals fan was counting on seeing Luke Maile for 25 games last season, but the 34-year-old acquitted himself well when called upon. He filled in briefly in May and July, then got some extended run when Kansas City traded Freddy Fermin to the San Diego Padres on July 31.
One day before his 35th birthday, Maile returned to Kansas City for another season. The Royals announced they had signed him to a minor-league contract with a non-roster invite to spring training in a Thursday social media post.
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Luke Maile back for a chance at Royals roster
Maile had a respectable .244/.346/.356 slash line for the Royals in his small sample, including one home run, six RBIs, and six runs scored. His most frequent role down the stretch was to take over late in games when the Royals wanted to get Salvador Perez out of the squat.
In his 10-year big-league career, Maile has played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians, Cincinnati Reds, and Royals. He’s accrued 2.0 bWAR in his 456 major league games, which still isn’t bad for a former eighth-round draft pick.
The opportunity for Maile to make the opening day roster seems rather limited. The Royals have an incentive to promote rookie Carter Jensen because of his top prospect status, which would earn Kansas City an extra draft pick at the end of the first round next year if he wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top-three in Most Valuable Player voting.
Most teams don’t carry three catchers, and the Royals have two catchers who both deserve a lion’s share of at-bats. The most realistic scenario for Maile to get back to the major league roster would be an injury, or perhaps Jensen struggling so much that the Royals felt it was necessary to demote him to Triple-A.
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