With rosters expanding to 28 players tomorrow, the Royals have already announced the moves they “anticipate” making, as per the club’s wording. First baseman/outfielder Jac Caglianone will be activated from the 10-day injured list, righty Luinder Avila will be called up from Triple-A, and catching prospect Carter Jensen’s contract will be selected from Triple-A. Kansas City will need to subtract someone from the current 26-man roster to make space for the entire trio, but the Royals already have 40-man roster space available to accommodate Jensen.
Freddy Fermin was traded to the Padres at the deadline, and the Royals have since been using veteran Luke Maile as the backup catcher behind Salvador Perez. Because Perez will get his share of DH days to keep his bat in the lineup, Jensen should get a decent amount of playing time behind the plate in his first taste of MLB action. The expanded September roster allows the Royals some flexibility in keeping three catchers around, and Maile’s playing time is probably going to diminish since Jensen is a bigger future priority.
Jensen hit well enough (.292/.360/.420 in 308 PA) in Double-A ball to earn his first promotion to Triple-A earlier this summer, and he has taken it up a notch since arriving in Omaha. Jensen has hit .288/.404/.647 in 184 Triple-A plate appearances, with already 14 home runs to show for his brief time at the top rung of the minor league ladder. This kind of performance is hard to overlook, and it has earned the Kansas City native a late-season look with his hometown team.
A third-round pick for the Royals in the 2021 draft, Jensen is ranked 69th on MLB Pipeline’s list of baseball’s best prospects, and he sits 88th on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking. Evaluators like Jansen’s ability to get on base, and his 2025 numbers suggest he has started to tap into his raw power. Jensen has a good eye at the plate, but it is worth noting that his strikeout rate has shot upwards during his brief time at Triple-A. As a catcher, Jensen has a plus throwing arm and his framing ability has been improving, and both Pipeline and BA feel he can be a solid defender.
The Royals will surely exercise their $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026, but that will also be Perez’s age-36 season, so the longtime face of the franchise will have to slow down at some point. Beyond Jensen, Blake Mitchell is another top-100 prospect who just advanced to high-A ball this season, and Ramon Ramirez is another young backstop in the system playing at the A-ball level.
Unsurprisingly, rival teams checked in on these young catchers prior to the trade deadline, but K.C. instead pivoted by moving Fermin. Jensen is the first of this trio to make it to the Show, so he’ll get the first crack at trying to establish himself as a big leaguer. He’ll retain rookie eligibility heading into 2026, and thus due to Prospect Promotion Incentive eligibility, the Royals could earn an extra draft pick if Jensen stays on the active roster for the entire 2026 campaign.
A former top prospect in his own right, Caglianone will return after a left hamstring strain cost him about five weeks on the injured list. Caglianone hit only .147/.205/.280 in his first 161 PA in the majors, so this IL stint can perhaps act as a refresh for the outfielder’s rookie year. It remains to be seen how many at-bats Caglianone will receive for a Royals team that is fighting for a playoff berth, since deadline acquisition Mike Yastrzemski has stepped into Caglianone’s right field spot and been on a tear since arriving in Kansas City.