KANSAS CITY -- After crashing into the wall and taking an awkward tumble Tuesday night, Royals outfielder Mark Canha was shaken up enough that he landed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a left abductor strain.
The Royals recalled outfielder Drew Waters from Triple-A Omaha, and while neither Canha or Waters are considered everyday players for the Royals at this point in the season, perhaps a new face and a new opportunity might help the Kansas City offense find some spark.
After Wednesday¡¯s 4-0 loss to the Twins at the hands of Minnesota starter Joe Ryan¡¯s seven strong innings, the Royals have been shut out twice now in 12 games this season. They¡¯ve had a tough time getting a consistent offense going and have six hits in the past two games against the Twins.
¡°Everybody can see the numbers,¡± Royals catcher Salvador Perez said Wednesday. ¡°They probably think we¡¯re not hitting good right now. But it¡¯s a long season. And we¡¯re still hitting the ball hard. That¡¯s the most important thing. Hit the ball hard and see what happens after that.¡±
Waters had a strong start to the season in Triple-A after competing for an Opening Day roster spot in Spring Training. The 26-year-old had 10 hits in 27 at-bats and a 1.210 OPS, along with eight strikeouts and five walks, in the small sample size of seven games. He hit for the cycle last week and was named International League Player of the Week.
¡°The goal for any player that goes down to Triple-A is to make us call them back up,¡± manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°This happened to be because of an injury. But Drew was producing in the week-plus of Triple-A. If he wasn¡¯t, then maybe it makes it a tougher decision on who does get called up.¡±
It remains to be seen how much the Royals use Waters in the big leagues, though, and he won¡¯t be expected to be a hero when he does play. The offense isn¡¯t going to take off until the middle of the order finds its way. Perez is hitting .196 to begin the year with a .549 OPS, while Vinnie Pasquantino is hitting .171 with a .580 OPS. Both went a combined 0-for-6 in the Royals¡¯ three-hit effort Wednesday night.
But giving Waters opportunities wouldn¡¯t hurt, especially as the Royals try to find an answer to their outfield production with Hunter Renfroe and MJ Melendez hitting .156 and .111, respectively.
¡°We have a long stretch of right-handed pitchers coming here, so there will be opportunities for him to get in there,¡± Quatraro said of the switch-hitting Waters. ¡°But I don¡¯t have it mapped out yet.¡±
Waters has had chances with Kansas City before and struggled, although last year his time in the big leagues was limited, logging three hits in 16 at-bats in seven Major League games.
While Waters has a dynamic power-speed combination at the plate, the knock on him has always been his swing and miss tendencies, with a 32.9% strikeout rate in the Majors.
But his swing decisions have stood out over the last week in Triple-A, Quatraro said, and Waters agreed.
¡°I feel like I¡¯m doing a good job swinging at pitches in the zone,¡± Waters said. ¡°I feel like, at times, I would get myself into trouble swinging at pitches out of the zone. Especially in the last week, I¡¯ve done a good job of staying in the zone, and when I do get something in the zone, driving it.¡±
Quatraro called Canha¡¯s strain ¡°mild,¡± adding he was hopeful that the IL stint would be right around 10 days. That¡¯s good news, given that Canha has put up some solid offense -- with five hits and two walks in 17 plate appearances -- and he was starting to earn more playing time.
Canha crashed into the left-field wall in the fifth inning Tuesday as he attempted to catch a long fly ball from Harrison Bader. Canha tracked it down but couldn¡¯t land the ball in his glove, spinning awkwardly as he jumped toward it, crashing into the wall and tumbling onto the warning track.
¡°I knew it was kind of a shaky situation when I got up from that play,¡± Canha said. ¡°Just running into the wall, it kind of jarred my hip a little bit. The joint is a little angry right now, little sore. Knowing what I know from the past and having, coincidentally, hip issues in the past, I just know it¡¯s best to get the treatment necessary so that I come back and can be myself and not try to play through something and aggravate it.
¡°When it¡¯s something like your hip, which we use a lot in baseball, trying to play through it would just make things worse.¡±