The Royals announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Tyler Tolbert from Triple-A Omaha. They had an open 40-man spot already and only needed to clear an active roster spot, which they did by placing outfielder Dairon Blanco on the 10-day IL due to right Achilles tendinopathy.
Tolbert, 27, will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game. The former 13th-round pick has never hit much in the minors but nevertheless leads all of Minor League Baseball with 215 steals dating back to the 2021 season. That’s partially due to the fact that some others who might’ve challenged him for that lead instead made their way to the big leagues sooner and have stuck there, but it’s nonetheless an impressive mark, particularly considering that he’s only been caught 15 times — a staggering success rate of 93.5%
Despite is impressive wheels, however, Tolbert’s bat is quite suspect. He turned 27 in January but has just 99 plate appearances above the Double-A level. He’s hit .153/.258/.177 in that small sample and carries a .269/.337/.391 output in 1036 Double-A plate appearances. Overall, Tolbert is a .245/.333/.359 hitter in pro ball.
On the defensive side of the coin, Tolbert has spent the majority of his career up the middle. Shortstop has been his primary spot on the diamond, but he has nearly 1800 innings in the outfield (1338 in center) and 528 frames as a second baseman under his belt. He’ll be a bench player for manager Matt Quatraro, offering a high-end pinch runner late in games or a defensive replacement in the outfield. He doesn’t draw particularly strong grades for his up-the-middle glovework, but he’d be an upgrade over defensively challenged left fielder MJ Melendez.
Tolbert will seemingly take the role of a speedy bench player, which has been Blanco’s primary job in recent years. Since the start of 2022, Blanco has appeared in 165 games for Kansas City but has only been sent to the plate 278 times. He has a roughly league average line of .258/.314/.417 but has stolen 58 bases in 70 attempts. His sprint speed was ranked in the 97th percentile last year and in the 100th in 2023.
It was noted back in February that Blanco was dealing with soreness in his Achilles. He eventually made the Opening Day roster but it seems the issue has lingered enough that the club will put him on the shelf for a while.