4:01PM: The trade has been officially announced, and the Royals have designated righty John McMillon for assignment to create roster space for DeJong. McMillon made his MLB debut with four innings of 2.25 ERA ball with K.C. in 2023, but has struggled in posting a 6.53 ERA across 30 1/3 innings with Triple-A Omaha this year.
2:51PM: The Royals have bolstered their infield depth by acquiring shortstop Paul DeJong from the White Sox, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (via X). Right-handed pitching prospect Jarold Rosado is headed to the Sox in return, as per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. The deal will become official after a medical review. Since the Royals and White Sox are playing each other tonight in Chicago, DeJong might be able to make a quick debut for his new club against his old club.
In a dismal White Sox season, DeJong has been a relatively bright spot, hitting .228/.275/.430 with a team-leading 18 homers in 363 plate appearances. While his 95 wRC+ is still below the league average, it still represents a significant step up from the 73 wRC+ DeJong posted over the 2020-23 seasons, while hitting .200/.273/.352 in 1213 PA for the Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Giants.
DeJong’s strikeout and walk rates are among the worst in baseball, but he still makes a decent amount of hard contact and can generate power when he does square up. Beyond the power-centric offensive profile, DeJong doesn’t offer much in the field, as his glovework has sharply declined after once being one of the sport’s better defensive shortstops.
While the Royals are more than set already at shortstop with Bobby Witt Jr., DeJong brings some extra pop to a K.C. team that ranks 19th of 30 teams in homers. Witt and Salvador Perez (each with 19 round-trippers) are the only Royals players with more home runs than DeJong, so he could bring some power off the bench, or in a part-time capacity at second or third base.
The right-handed hitting DeJong could pair with the left-handed hitting Michael Massey for a natural platoon at the keystone, or DeJong could get some at-bats ahead of the offensively-struggling Maikel Garcia at third base. DeJong hasn’t played much second base in his career and had never played any third before this season, but another infield position might be the better option given the decline in his shortstop work.
DeJong is a free agent after the season, making him one of the more clear-cut players to be dealt by the rebuilding White Sox. The infielder (who turns 31 later this week) signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with Chicago last winter, so the remaining $580K or so on his deal represents a pretty small financial burden for Kansas City to assume.
Rosado just turned 22 earlier this month, and the former international signing has a 1.85 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate, and 7.2% walk rate over 39 relief innings for A-level Columbia this season. Injuries cost Rosado the entire 2022 season and limited him to 10 innings in 2021 and 26 innings last year, but he has looked much sharper and reduced his walk rate significantly in his first healthy pro season.