{"id":2320919,"date":"2026-03-10T04:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2320919"},"modified":"2026-03-10T04:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:56:48","slug":"royals-may-have-scored-hidden-gem-on-minor-league-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-may-have-scored-hidden-gem-on-minor-league-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals May Have Scored Hidden Gem on Minor-League Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div q:key=\"QW_5\"><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6b q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Non-roster invitees making the opening day roster is pretty rare across Major League Baseball, and that&#39;s especially true of position players. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6c q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Non-roster invitees making the opening day roster is pretty rare across Major League Baseball, and that&#8217;s especially true of position players. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6e q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Most position players looking for minor-league deals before the season are coming off seasons so bad that they have something to prove before a team gives them a shot at the majors again. The Kansas City Royals, however, may prove to be this year&#39;s exception.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6f q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">Most position players looking for minor-league deals before the season are coming off seasons so bad that they have something to prove before a team gives them a shot at the majors again. The Kansas City Royals, however, may prove to be this year&#8217;s exception.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6h q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>With an uncertain bench situation, the Royals could put an NRI on the opening day roster if they impress from start to finish in camp. And three weeks into spring games, one Royals newcomer seems to be turning some heads. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6i q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">With an uncertain bench situation, the Royals could put an NRI on the opening day roster if they impress from start to finish in camp. And three weeks into spring games, one Royals newcomer seems to be turning some heads. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6k q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p><em>If you like our content,&nbsp;<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\"><em>choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6l q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\"><em>If you like our content,\u00a0<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\"><em>choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6n q:key=vcaa:\n\n<h2>Josh Rojas in position to make the team?<\/h2>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6o q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">Josh Rojas in position to make the team?<\/h2>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=6q q:key=vcaa:https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_3500,h_1968,x_0,y_235\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_royals\/01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g--><!--qv q:id=6r q:key=VjqC:mL_1--><!--qv q:id=6s q:key=deAA:7d_2--><!--qv q:s q:sref=6s q:key=--><!--qv q:id=6t q:key=deAA:7d_1--><!--qv q:s q:sref=6t q:key=--><!--qv q:id=6u q:key=cHU9:7d_0--><!--qv q:id=6v q:key=deAA:e2_0--><!--qv q:id=6w q:key=B0c2:SZ_1--><\/p>\n<figure q:key=\"9m_3\" q:id=\"6x\"><!--qv q:s q:sref=6w q:key=--><!--qv q:s q:sref=6v q:key=--><\/p>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden undefined\" on:qvisible=\"q-zfUis7FJ.js#_hW[0]\" q:id=\"6y\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 1x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 2x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 1x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 2x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 1x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 2x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_235,w_3500,h_1968\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kk9q2h01gc0d50da7g.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\"><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><\/p>\n<p><figcaption q:id=\"70\">Jul 8, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Josh Rojas (5) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=71 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Utility infielder Josh Rojas, who signed with the Royals in January after a dismal season with the Chicago White Sox, is making the most of his opportunity so far with an impressive 6-for-17 start to his spring, including a pair of home runs. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=72 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">Utility infielder Josh Rojas, who signed with the Royals in January after a dismal season with the Chicago White Sox, is making the most of his opportunity so far with an impressive 6-for-17 start to his spring, including a pair of home runs. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=74 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>On Monday, Anne Rogers of MLB.com named Rojas as a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/redsox\/news\/mlb-position-battles-still-undecided-in-2026-spring-training\" target=\"_blank\">top prospective contender<\/a> to earn one of the spots on the bench, behind a starting lineup that is fairly well established. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=75 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">On Monday, Anne Rogers of MLB.com named Rojas as a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/redsox\/news\/mlb-position-battles-still-undecided-in-2026-spring-training\" target=\"_blank\">top prospective contender<\/a> to earn one of the spots on the bench, behind a starting lineup that is fairly well established. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=77 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>&#34;While the &#34;everyday&#34; players seem fairly set on the Royals&rsquo; roster, the bench competition is wide open. And it will really come down to what the Royals feel like they need the most to fill out the final two to three spots on their roster,&#34; Rogers wrote. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=78 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">&#8220;While the &#8220;everyday&#8221; players seem fairly set on the Royals\u2019 roster, the bench competition is wide open. And it will really come down to what the Royals feel like they need the most to fill out the final two to three spots on their roster,&#8221; Rogers wrote. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=7a q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>&#34;The NRIs in camp each bring different skill sets, too, and<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/668942\" rel=\"tag\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a> Josh Rojas has particularly stood out for the results he&rsquo;s had so far this spring.&#34; <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7b q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">&#8220;The NRIs in camp each bring different skill sets, too, and<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/668942\" rel=\"tag\" target=\"_blank\"\/> Josh Rojas has particularly stood out for the results he\u2019s had so far this spring.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=7d q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Rojas, 31, has seven partial seasons of major league experience under his belt, and some of them have been quite solid. In 2021 and 2022, he put up OPS figures of .752 and .740 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he had a good start in 2024 for the Seattle Mariners as well before falling apart in the second half. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7e q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">Rojas, 31, has seven partial seasons of major league experience under his belt, and some of them have been quite solid. In 2021 and 2022, he put up OPS figures of .752 and .740 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he had a good start in 2024 for the Seattle Mariners as well before falling apart in the second half. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_3--><!--qv q:id=7g q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Because the names around him don&#39;t have established track record in Kansas City, such as Tyler Tolbert, Nick Loftin, and Drew Waters, it would be far from a shock to see Rojas earn a shot either on the opening day roster or early in the regular season.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7h q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">Because the names around him don&#8217;t have established track record in Kansas City, such as Tyler Tolbert, Nick Loftin, and Drew Waters, it would be far from a shock to see Rojas earn a shot either on the opening day roster or early in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Non-roster invitees making the opening day roster is pretty rare across Major League Baseball, and that&#8217;s especially true of position players. Most position players looking for minor-league deals before the season are coming off seasons so bad that they have something to prove before a team gives them a shot at the majors again. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2320920,"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-2320919","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-May-Have-Scored-Hidden-Gem-on-Minor-League-Deal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320919","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=2320919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2320921,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320919\/revisions\/2320921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2320920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}