KC Royals: Five players who deserve September call-up
By Cody Rickman
It’s almost time for the KC Royals to call some extra players up for the final stretch of the season. Who deserves a call-up over the next few days?
It’s nearly September, Labor Day weekend is upon us and it is time for MLB Rosters to expand to 40 players. As of the morning of August 28th, the Kansas City Royals are 46 – 87, good enough for fourth place in the AL Central. It is time to empty out the toolbox and see which players will work for the future roster.
The Royals current 40-Man roster consists of 39 players, three of the 39 (C – Salvador Perez, SP – Trevor Oaks, SP – Jesse Hahn) are currently on the 60-day IL, which opens up four spots for September call-ups. When September rolls around the Royals are likely to call-up Heath Fillmyer, Richard Lovelady, Kelvin Gutiérrez, and Jorge Bonifacio; Each has made an appearance with the Royals already in 2019.
The following five players in the system haven’t seen time with the Royals in 2019 and have shown enough to warrant a September call-up:
FOSTER GRIFFIN (STARTING PITCHER)
The 24-year-old 6’3″ lefty has been arguably the best left handed starting pitcher in a battered and beaten AAA pitching landscape. In a year with the introduction of the MLB baseball into both the Pacific Coast League and International league, a league seeing record amounts home runs and runs have been scored.
Foster Griffin has been the most consistent LHP starter at the AAA level. Looking beyond the inflated era and WHIP, Griffin has pitched to a career low in line drive percentage while inducing a 48% groundball rate. He, like many of the pitchers in AAA, has been stricken by a gaudy HR to Fly Ball ratio, which is the highest of his career.
Griffin possesses two quality off-speed pitches in his curveball and change-up. He has deception in his mechanics to allow his low 90s fastball to be effective when his command is right. Currently Griffin doesn’t utilize his legs to drive off the rubber and with right tweaks to his mechanics he could add another 2-3 mph onto his fastball.
With the appropriate mixture of his pitches and locations, he could provide effectiveness at the MLB level. With the Royals looking for pitching to bridge the gap between the flood of pitching prospects looking to break in 2020 and beyond (Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, and Johnathan Bowlan), Griffin is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December and is a solid choice for a September call-up to see if he is capable of getting big league hitters out.