KC Royals: Peter O’Brien being designated for assignment is surprising

The KC Royals made a few moves on Wednesday afternoon and one of them involved minor league outfielder Peter O’Brien being designated for assignment. While he’s only a minor leaguer, the move was still a bit surprising.

Every year during spring training, there’s always a member of the Kansas City Royals that everyone overhypes. This past spring training, that guy was Peter O’Brien, who the team had acquired in a trade last offseason from the Diamondbacks.

O’Brien put on a show over spring training, crushing seven home runs and being the talk of the town amongst Royals fans. It wasn’t surprising when he was put in the minor leagues, however, as the Royals had plenty of options to stick in the outfield.

Despite his flashy performance during spring training, O’Brien struggled in Triple-A Omaha, only slashing .162/.235/.276 in 27 games and 105 at bats. No, those stats aren’t good, but I feel like the KC Royals could have been a little more patient with the young outfielder.

For one, the Royals might be set in the outfield now, but what about after this season? Lorenzo Cain will likely be traded this season if the team continues to lose, Paulo Orlando has shown he isn’t an every day starter, and the two Jorges (Jorge Bonifaco and Jorge Soler) aren’t hitting all that great (Soler has yet to record a hit in four games).

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It’s also still really early in the season and O’Brien was an intriguing prospect. He possessed the ability to be a true power hitter for the Royals, but obviously would have needed some time to develop in the minors.

At the same time, however, O’Brien has been traded from the Yankees and the Diamondbacks. He never developed for either of those teams and they obviously didn’t see that changing or him getting any better. Perhaps this will end up being a smart move for the Royals, but I’m a bit puzzled by it.

The Royals also designated Christian Colon for assignment and added Al Alburquerque and Seth Maness to their 40-man roster, showing their need for bullpen arms at the moment. With pitching being a need for the team during this long stretch of games, position players on the 40-man roster are expendable.

While Peter O’Brien wasn’t performing well in Omaha, I still think the Kansas City Royals should have given him more time to try and get back to that spring training level of success he was having. There must have been some underlying factor to go along with his poor hitting that caused O’Brien to be designated for assignment.

What are your thoughts, Royals Nation? Are you bummed to see Peter O’Brien be designated for assignment or does this move seem about right for the club?