The Royals announced they will call up catcher Carter Jensen, outfielder Jac Caglianone, and pitcher Luinder Avila as part of September expanded rosters. Teams can add an additional two players to bring the roster to 28, so there will need to be one additional corresponding move.
Jensen is the top Royals prospect, according to Baseball America, while MLB Pipeline ranked him as the #86 prospect in baseball. The Park Hill South grad was originally a third-round pick by the Royals in 2021. He is enjoying
his best power season with 20 home runs in 111 games across Double-A and Triple-A. The 22-year-old was hitting .290/.377/.501 across both levels going into today’s games, and was on a tear at Omaha, hitting .288/.404/.647 in 43 games. The left-handed hitting Jensen shows one of the most patient eyes in the system, coupled with above-average catcher and good defense behind the plate.
Caglianone has been up with the Royals before before injuring his hamstring in late July. Caglianone has been playing with Omaha for the last three weeks on rehab assignment, and was hitting .385 with five home runs in 16 games going into today, including a 451-foot blast last night. He did struggle initially at the big league level, hitting .147/.205/.280 with five home runs in 41 games.
Avila was up briefly for the Royals a few weeks ago, pitching a scoreless inning against the Nationals. The 23-year-old right-hander has a 5.23 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 53.1 innings for Triple-A Omaha.
Jensen will have to be added to the 40-man roster, and he would have had to be added before this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The Royals currently have two open spots on the 40-man roster.
