The Royals have sent right-hander Tyler Duffey outright to Triple-A Omaha, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. The righty has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, as a player with more than five years of major league service time, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so.
Duffey, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason. He was only able to log two innings of official Spring Training action, telling reporters in March that he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mole from his left shoulder. He added that post-surgery testing came back negative but that he would have to undergo further check-ups in the months to come.
He reported to Omaha for some work at Triple-A to start the season. He had a 3.24 earned run average in 8 1/3 innings there, striking out ten opponents but also issuing five walks and throwing a wild pitch. He was selected to the big league club on April 22 and spent roughly a month with the Royals, getting put into nine games and logging nine innings, allowing five earned runs. He struck out ten opponents but also gave out eight walks and hit a batter.
That’s a small sample but the lack of control nonetheless got Duffey nudged off the roster last week and the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers. His next move is likely to get some work at Triple-A. That could come with Omaha if he accepts his assignment or perhaps another club if he heads to the open market and signs elsewhere.
It’s obviously been a challenging year for Duffey with the health scare and also the shaky control so far on the season, but he has been a solid major league reliever in the past. He had a strong three-year run with the Twins from 2019 to 2021, throwing 144 innings with a 2.69 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate.