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ROYALS SPRING REPORT #2
Outfield roster battles, Takahashi impresses

By 3Bplay
03/02/2026

Waters continues push for roster spot: With the additions to the outfield group over the offseason, Drew Waters is one of a handful of contributors that could be on their way out as the numbers game begins to tighten.

However, he's been one of the best hitters the Royals have had to date, going .750 (6-for-8) with a walk, two doubles, and a stolen base through six games played. With an option remaining, he's unlikely to make the Opening Day roster, but with other roster possibilities like John Rave and Michael Massey struggling a bit out of the gate, he could factor in.

"Connor (Dawson) has already had a pretty profound effect on a few of our guys," said manager Matt Quatraro of one of his new assistant hitting coaches. "He and Marcus (assistant coach) Thames have really hit the ground running in getting acquainted with the players, and we're already seeing some dividends of that paying off."

Avila on injured list: The Royals placed pitcher Luinder Avila (oblique) on the 15-day injured list, putting his status for the season's opening in doubt. He has been day-to-day, but was shut down for the remainder of the spring.

The right-hander had a 4.34 ERA in 66 1/3 innings with the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers a season ago, striking out seventy-six and walking just twenty-six. He made a couple of appearances with the Royals as well, allowing three earned runs in three innings, striking out four with six hits and a couple of walks.

In the 1-0 loss to the Cubs back on Monday the 23rd, Avila pitched just two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit before leaving with 'side discomfort', as termed by Matt Quatraro after that game.

Japanese media in Royals' camp: With the signing of a Japanese player in free agency, journalists from the country have been reporting from Surprise on Kona Takahashi, who signed a big-league deal with the team back in January. He hasn't pitched much, only making his second appearance of the spring yesterday.

But when he's pitched, he's looked really, really good -- he's allowed just two hits and no runs in 2 2/3 innings, striking out four with no walks.

"There are very, very few pitchers out there with the kind of stuff he has," said pitching coach Brian Sweeney. "His fastball is good, good velocity and spin, but the splitter he throws is just a hammer of a pitch."

The splitter hasn't been a common pitch that Royals' pitchers have thrown in recent years. The most notable examples were Danny Duffy and Brady Singer, although they threw it less than 4% of the time. Josh Staumont also threw one, but was mainly a fastball-curve guy with the occasional off-speed pitch.

"Even when he's not striking guys out, that pitch is going to induce a ton of weak contact," Sweeney went on to say. "He can get it into the high 80's or low 90's, but it looks like his fastball for the first 90% of the pitch before it just falls off."