Royals best Rule 5 Draft option is already in their organization

The Kansas City Royals are not an obvious team to make a big move in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft, let’s be clear.

The team does not have an exorbitant number of open spots on the 40-man roster, and their contending hopes should not hinge upon who they do or don’t add in the Rule 5 Draft.

But there are still areas for the AL Central club to round out their roster heading into 2026. Outfielders, second basemen, and relief options have been discussed until fans are Royal Blue in the face.

Conventional baseball wisdom says that Kansas City should add a third catcher to their organizational depth chart sometime between now and Opening Day. Catchers Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen figure to be the position’s one-two punch, but there is no Freddy Fermin waiting in the wings to supplant the position if one, or both, go down with injury.

That reality made adding a catcher in the Rule 5 Draft, stashing the right guy on your bench as an emergency option, a tempting path for Kansas City. But the numbers, and that stubborn reality, say that the club already has a strong Rule 5–eligible option in their own organization. This of course being Luca Tresh.

If Kansas City wants a depth catcher in the Rule 5 Draft, forget about it and promote Luca Tresh.

Tresh has not been a heralded prospect at all in his Kansas City tenure. The North Carolina State alum last appeared on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Royals prospects in 2023, at 13th. But he struggled in his first full season at Double-A, and that set him back in the industry’s eyes and behind other Royals catching prospects.

Before long, all eyes turned to Jensen, then 2023 first-rounder Blake Mitchell, and then Ramon Ramirez. Tresh was lost in the shuffle, despite bouncing back at the plate in 2024, then again in Triple-A in 2025.

Tresh logged 72 games with the Omaha Storm Chasers this past season, posting a respectable .259/.321/.473 line and a 103 wRC+ in the bat-happy International League.

Sure, the counting numbers were not stupendous (10 home runs, 37 RBI), but several stats say he was better than his breakout 2022 season, that first put him on the prospect map. His .214 ISO was the best of his career, while his .473 slugging percentage was also a career best.

Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper went through the painstaking process of listing out each Rule 5–eligible player for this week’s affair. While listing slash lines was great and all, the process matters equally to getting the big-league promotion.

So, for those players who have Statcast numbers, here are some notable rankings from Tresh this past season:

• .237 xBA (18th overall, 1st among catchers)
• .422 xSLG (6th overall, 1st among catchers)
• .316 xwOBA (21st overall, 3rd among catchers)
• 7.1% Barrel% (6th overall, 1st among catchers)

Is Tresh perfect? No. But if Kansas City were to add a player in the Rule 5 Draft, that player should have some elite markings to prove they are ready for a big-league roster.

Tresh performed like one of the most MLB-ready catchers in this year’s pool, and that’s before even considering the strides he made behind the plate. He has always had an above-average arm and has plenty of familiarity with Kansas City’s current pitching staff. He also led the Storm Chasers in runners caught stealing this past year with 12.

So why Tresh, and why now? Even if Kansas City added him to the 40-man roster today, it would not protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. But he has the “good enough” profile as a third catcher on a big-league club.

Entering his age-26 season, Tresh will hopefully get his chance sooner rather than later. It just might not be with Kansas City.

The Royals haven’t really had a clear MO in recent years for how they prefer to handle that third catcher spot. They kept Luke Maile waiting in the minors until they needed him, but only needed Fermin and Perez in 2024 and sprinkled in young talent in 2023.

There is absolutely a road to the 40-man roster for Tresh, if another team doesn’t add him to their 26-man roster in the Rule 5 Draft first.

This is all to say that while fans should hope Kansas City improves the outfield or second base this offseason, the place they shouldn’t be looking for the solution is the Rule 5 Draft. That’s for rounding out a roster, adding depth with a player a club thinks they can squeeze more value out of: a low-leverage reliever, a pinch-running specialist, or a third catcher.

If Kansas City overlooks Tresh for that latter role in favor of another player from another organization, that seems like an unjustified move and a further indictment of how the Royals view their own prospect depth in the upper minors.