Kansas City Royals: Five players to watch vs Baltimore Orioles

May 11, 2017; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Alex Gordon (4), left fielder Jorge Bonifacio (38), right fielder Jorge Soler (12) , pitcher Al Albuquerque (62) and teammates congratulate each other after they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Kansas City Royals defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

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Kansas City Royals pitcher Al Albuquerque (62) is congratulated by catcher Salvador Perez (13) after they beat the Tampa Bay Rays – Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

AL ALBURQUERQUE

With the Royals needing more depth in the bullpen, Al Alburquerque was called up on Wednesday. Alburquerque had previously spent time with the Detroit Tigers before joining the Royals this offseason.

The newest member of the bullpen saw his first bit of action out of the pen during Thursday afternoon’s victory. Albuerquerque was put into the game in the ninth inning with the Royals up 6-0 and ended his first outing with only one hit while striking out one batter.

While Al Alburquerque won’t be thrown into many high pressure situations for awhile, he’s still a player to watch because he looked promising in his Royals debut. The bullpen has been hit or miss so far this season, but when they’ve looked good, they’ve looked really good.

The Orioles are a hard hitting team, so don’t expect Al to be thrown into the game unless it’s either a blowout or extra innings.

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