had stepped into the primary pinch-running role<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Blanco performed well in 77 games at Triple-A Omaha, swiping 32 bases and posting a .253\/.332\/.405 slash line, but he appeared in only nine MLB games. It was not the season he envisioned, nor what the Royals likely planned.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His 2024 campaign, however, was memorable. Blanco played in a career-high 88 games and delivered one of the most electric performances of the season during MLB Players\u2019 Weekend. In what became known as the \u201cYellow Crayon Game\u201d on Aug. 17 against the Cincinnati Reds, Blanco drove in seven runs, the second-most ever by a Royals batter in a single game. He hit his first career grand slam and helped power Kansas City to a win. He also stole 31 bases that season, mostly as a pinch runner, ranking eighth in the American League.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Blanco even made a postseason appearance, doing what he does best: entering late and swiping second.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Royals\u2019 2024 season looks different without Blanco\u2019s speed. But it is also fair to remember that 2023 was his first real opportunity as a big-league regular and he delivered. In 124 at-bats, he posted a career-best .776 OPS and 109 wRC+, stole 24 bases, and finished with 71 total steals across all levels. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That earned him the 2023 Willie Wilson Award as the organization\u2019s top baserunner. On a losing 2023 club, Blanco\u2019s aggression and efficiency on the bases were genuine bright spots.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ultimately, though, his role narrowed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Marte\u2019s arrival not only fills an outfield need but also clarifies Tolbert\u2019s place in the organization. The Alabama native debuted in 2025 and quickly led the league in pinch-running stolen bases. Unlike Blanco, Tolbert brings defensive versatility, capable of moving between infield and outfield spots. In today\u2019s roster construction, that flexibility carries weight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Blanco and Tolbert shared a similar ceiling in Kansas City. The difference was control and cost. Tolbert is younger, cheaper, and under team control longer. <\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Royals finally made their long-awaited outfield addition, officially signing former All-Star Starling Marte on Monday. It is a low-risk deal financially, giving Marte the chance to earn incentives by staying healthy and producing. But when a full 40-man roster gains a player, someone else has to go. That player was speedster Dairon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2310366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2310365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Royals-lose-OF-who-couldnt-build-on-2023-peak-in.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2310365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2310367,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310365\/revisions\/2310367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2310366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2310365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2310365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2310365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}