'Sparkplug' Pham makes immediate impact in KC

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Tommy Pham is no stranger to being traded and no stranger to becoming acclimated to a new team. The 36-year-old outfielder has been traded midseason four times in his career and each within the past three years. He started 2024 with the White Sox, was traded to the Cardinals at the Trade Deadline and joined the Royals at the end of August -- the seventh team he’s played for since the start of 2022.

As much as teams that acquire him look to him for an extra jolt of energy on the field and in the clubhouse, Pham seeks the same thing by joining a playoff race.

“Gives me a boost of energy,” Pham said. “That’s the biggest thing it does for me. Makes you want to elevate every area of your game, play the game harder the right way, makes you want to do all the right things.”

So far, so good for Pham since joining the Royals a week ago via the waiver wire. They acquired him from St. Louis and Robbie Grossman from Texas, while trading for Yuli Gurriel from the Braves in a Minor League deal, adding three veterans with playoff experience to help with a playoff hunt.

Pham has made an immediate impact in the leadoff spot, going 8-for-25 (.320) with four RBIs in six games.

“He’s a sparkplug,” second baseman Michael Massey said. “He brings a swagger to our team, and he’s obviously doing a really good job setting the tone and getting innings going while also driving guys in. We’re lucky to have him.”

Pham has a .708 OPS in 2024, but at this time of the year, overall production doesn’t matter as much as who steps up in the big moments with 19 games left. Entering Sunday, the Royals sit in the second American League Wild Card spot and are 3 1/2 games out of first place in the AL Central.

“He puts up really good at-bats,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “The thing that’s always impressed me with Tommy is just that he’s going to go to the next at-bat, regardless of what happened previously. He wants to be great. He wants to win. That’s what drives him.”

Pham’s intensity is noticeable from the first time you meet him. All he wants to do is win. He’s helping instill that culture inside the Royals’ clubhouse, a continuation of what Salvador Perez, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Hunter Renfroe and other veterans have done all year for a team learning to win in the big leagues.

“When you get a taste of postseason baseball, you just always want to get back,” Pham said, who has a .313 average in 31 postseason games. “I think with a team so young like this, once they get a taste of the postseason and see how different it is, it’s only going to do good for the franchise.”

The future of the Royals is all about their homegrown core players, and Bobby Witt Jr. is the centerpiece. But coming off a 106-loss season, a major emphasis in building a roster for 2024 was adding talented veteran players with postseason experience to help establish a winning culture.

Pham fits that mold and has already set an example for the young Royals position players late in the season, both in his pregame preparation and work and his in-game energy.

“When you get some veteran guys, like Tommy and Paul [DeJong] and Robbie, they’re guys that know the grind,” Lugo said. “When you’re younger, you get to this point in the season, it’s easy to let the fatigue control your mindset. But when you’ve been in the league for long enough, you know how to deal with that. I think it helps the younger guys understand that we’re still playing, we’re still having to focus.

“It’s not the last month before summer vacation. This is when it matters. This is when it’s time to work even harder.”