Kansas City Royals: Two potential trades involving Jorge Soler

• Shane McClanahan, LHP – 24 years old for 2021 season
• Taylor Walls, SS/2B – 24 years old for 2021 season

Prying Shane McClanahan away from the Tampa Bay Rays would be a major victory in improving the Royals pitching staff immediately. McClanahan has flown under the radar in the Rays’ stacked farm system. He has rapidly climbed a system notorious for slowly developing their pitching prospects to make his MLB debut in the 2020 playoffs after just one full season of minor league ball.

McClanahan has exceptional strike-out stuff with a borderline plus-plus fastball that can reach 100-mph (sits 95-98). His best off-speed offering is a plus slurve with two plane movement (horizontal and vertical). The fastball and slurve can generate swing-and-misses at the MLB level. His change-up has the chance to be at least an average pitch once he becomes more confident in it.

McClanahan has the potential to exceed his No. 3 type starter expectations. There are some concerns with the repeatability of his mechanics which could led to injury. If he is able to continue to develop his pitchability and mechanics, he has the stuff to be a number two type starter (FIP: 3.00 or lower).

Taylor Walls has the versatility in the field to provide above-average defense at shortstop, second base, third base, and in the outfield. Most importantly, Walls has the range and ability to be an above-average defender at shortstop. He has a plate approach geared to be a difficult out each at-bat.

His patience at the plate has led to solid on-base percentage and he has the potential to hit for a .260 average with a .340 OBP in the MLB. He has average power and should generate 11 – 14 homeruns per season. Walls is aggressive on the base-paths and may need to tone down his stolen base attempts. He can steal 25 or more bases per season if he gets better reads on the pitcher. Walls would be a valued addition to the Royals farm system.

Recent trade outcome to hope for:

None

The recent trade history for designated hitters with poor track records for health is not pretty.

Best trade outcome for designated hitter:

July 1989

Chicago White Sox traded Harold Baines DH/OF and Fred Manrique (Infielder) to Texas Rangers for Wilson Alvarez (Pitcher), Scott Fletcher (Infielder), and Sammy Sosa (Outfielder).

• Baines was entering his age 30 season in 1989 when he was traded from the White Sox to the Rangers. By 1987, he had become a full-time designated hitter. Baines is a Hall-of-Famer who put together a consistent 22-year career. Manrique played 9 seasons in the MLB as a utility infielder.
• Wilson Alvarez put together a solid 14-year career after the trade. Scott Fletcher played 15 seasons in the MLB as a utility infielder. Sammy Sosa got three seasons on the southside of the Chicago before heading to the northside and becoming the only MLB player in history to hit 60+ homeruns in three separate seasons (fun note: he never led his league in homeruns when he hit 60+ or more).

Do you think the Kansas City Royals should trade Jorge Soler?