Carter Jensen gets the call | Kansas City Royals Podcast

The Royals make a surprise September callup in Carter Jensen. What do we make of it? We’ll tell you in this edition of Locked on Royals. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. We are back with a Monday edition of Locked Ony and the Locked On Network. As always, I am your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. That is JHNYJ_15. You also can listen to us on wherever you catch your podcast. That can be Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe. For you first-time listeners wondering how this channel works, I will be bringing you episodes Monday through Friday, 30-inute episodes in length. And Chance Lebo will bring you the Locked on Royals postcast, which after each and every Royals game, he’ll go live for about 15 to 20 minutes giving you all of his thoughts. Now, before we dive into today’s packed episode, I want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner and visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets. Now, we’re going to open the show with uh really me calling myself out a little bit uh and saying where I was wrong. Uh because going back to Friday, or I guess I should say Saturday with our mailbag Saturday, which had to be pushed back one day due to technical difficulties, I got asked multiple times uh who the September call-ups would be and if Carter Jensen would be one of those players. And I said point blank, I just I don’t see it. I don’t see a reality in which the Royals rush another one of their top prospects up to the big leagues if he’s not even going to be playing every single day. My guess and my official take that I’ve had multiple times throughout the season was that Carter Jensen can finish out the year strong in AAA. he can go to big league camp and fight for a spot next February and March and then probably around maybe or June, you can make that decision to call him up because I feel this is somebody that is going to be your catcher of the future. And if you call him up and he’s just sitting the bench as a backup, maybe it doesn’t make as much sense. But the Royals and those out there that said Carter Jensen was going to be a September call up, I give you your credit. I was wrong. You were right. and Carter Jensen’s going to get a chance in the final month of the season to make an impact. And the Royals would not be calling him up to be the the backup catcher, what Luke Mey is doing. And the Royals are going to be keeping three catchers on the roster, which we’ll talk about in the second segment this morning. And that’s because Jonathan India is going on the injured list with the wrist spring. Maybe we’ll see him back this year. It’s retroactive to August 30th. Uh, so you’re talking about getting him back maybe mid to the final 10 days of September. We got to see how he, you know, rehabs a little bit though and how he starts to feel. But as for the catchers on the roster, look, Salvador Perez has been well below average since Freddy Fine was dealt. And I don’t believe that’s really that shocking. Freddy Fine gave Salvador Perez the opportunity to DH a lot more, to rest up a little bit more, and we saw those numbers really take off, especially that month or it might have been a week or two where he went from, I want to say like 15 home runs to 24 or 25 like a one month stretch or maybe a couple week stretch. And to have that rest at his age is so important in the last month of the season. It’s not to say that Salvador Perez is not going to be playing, you know, every day. He probably still will be, but he won’t be behind the plate every single day. And that’s what we’ve seen since Freddy Fine was dealt. You’re not going to put Luke Meley in the lineup four to five days out of the week. You are going to have Salvador Perez behind the plate and you are going to DH somebody else. And with Carter Jensen, he’s going to be coming up here to DH and catch. And I would imagine on days that he’s not catching, he could be dhing. Maybe he’s one of those players where you just see how he fares early on in the first week where I mean, if he’s hitting 350 in the first week, I don’t care if it’s a righty or a lefty on the mount. I want him either catching or I want him dhing. And I could see where some people would go, well, Jack Kaggleó was hitting 375, 380 before they promoted him 10 to 15 games into his AAA career. There is a little bit more of a track record for Carter Jensen in Triple A. Now, Jack Kaggleon after he got hurt went back to Omaha and continued to crush. So, I still stand by the point of they didn’t really rush him because he was showing how beneath Triple A really was for him. For Carter Jensen, he had an on base north of 400. He was opsing over a,043 games for the Stormchasers. He is 22 years old and he just turned 22. So that’s the really exciting part about it. And you know, the Royals have shown this new age approach of if we feel a guy can help us out right now, we’re not going to manipulate any service time here. We’re not going to uh hold a guy back just so that he can finish the season strong and feel good about himself. And I do like that because I took that approach of, you know, with Kags and Jensen, they finished the year strong in Triple A and, you know, they’re hitting 300 and they’re leading the team in home runs and you just got to go into the off season telling yourself, man, that’s a lot better than going up to the big leagues and hitting 110 and being maybe a main reason why your offense struggles. I mean, for Jack Kaggleon, that had to be weighing on him. I mean, he’s this guy looked upon as the one to get the offense going. He’s the middle of the order bat the Royals have been looking for, and he just never turned into that. Then he gets hurt, he goes back to AAA, and he’s shown that AAA was just easier for him, as it really should be when you’re a prospect of his status. With Carter Jensen, what I love so much about his rise through the ranks is not only because he’s a local kid, but he just got better each and every year. And you’d hear people talk about, well, he’s got tremendous upside. And and I try to be reserved with upside when it comes to prospect because you go around, you know, all of Twitter. You’re going to have people that are very high on their own organization. And I’ve done that a time or two. Well, I really really like this guy. I I think that this player can be an everyday guy, maybe a future all-star. And it’s just cuz we’re a little bit more biased. And Carter Jensen was one of those guys many people that were Royals fans thought was going to be good. I mean, he wasn’t drafted 10th to to 15th in the draft. I mean, he was a top three pick in terms of rounds, not overall top three pick. And he had great defensive abilities. You knew the power was there and he had a mature approach. And early on in his minor league career, I mean, he’d hit 195 to 210, but he’d have a 360 to 370 on base percentage. And you thought, man, if he can just develop that hit tool, there is something really special there, cuz the power is really raw. I I mean, he is a bigger kid than maybe you would think he is. He’s not Jack Kaggleon who’s 65, 250 pounds, but Carter Jensen is not a small kid. I’ve now seen him the last two times in surprise and he’s only gotten bigger. And I’d imagine you go from when you’re 20 years old to 22, you’re going to fill out a little bit more. But the way he looked on the field with the other players, he blended in. Sometimes when I’ve gone out there, you’ll see the obvious 20-year-old or the new draft pick where he just looks like a teenager amongst a bunch of grown men. And Carter Jensen has now had two years of big league camp under his belt, working with those coaches, working alongside Salvador Perez. And that’s the exciting part to this is that when the Royals made that choice, it was not the toss a bone to a kid who grew up a Royals fan of, oh, this is really awesome. We get to showcase our prospect. They’re not naive like that. They put him in the big league camp because they felt he was on the cusp of becoming one of their biggest prospects and a top 100 prospect in all of baseball. And to see his swing and surprise to see his swing throughout the season, it’s just so smooth. Tons of pop off the bat. And Jack Kagleon got all the praise in spring training. We were talking about how incredible it was. Everybody was gathering around for his batting practice, but Carter Jensen at times was doing just the same thing as Jack Kagglio. In fact, I remember the furthest ball I saw hit in batting practice in the first couple days when I was down in Surprise was Carter Jetson’s. I mean, it cleared the wall in right center field by 40 to 50 feet. I mean, it was absolutely tagged. And the year before that, there is a training facility behind one of the fields in Surprise that he hit a ball on top of the facility which is about 50 60 70 ft back of where the fences are. I mean, it’s a little bit of distance there and he hit the top of it and that was when he was 20 years old. So, this type of vision the Royals have had for him, I feel has always been there. And great for him that he’s getting called up now. It is September callups. I didn’t think it was going to be possible. I am so glad that I was wrong in that cuz he’s going to get his chance to play. And I would imagine that tomorrow night when the Royals are taking on the Angels, he’s making his debut. And I would imagine for the rest of this home stand, we’re going to see a lot of Carter Jensen. We’re also going to see a lot of Jack Kagleion and we’re probably going to see a little bit of Linder Rava who impressed in the one inning he threw for the Royals uh earlier last month. So, the Royals did make three roster moves right before I recorded this episode, though they did tease it a little bit yesterday when saying who they were going to call up. Carter Jensen activated. He’s going to KC. Jack Kagleon, he is off the injured list. He is in KC. Luender Ravala, he is making his return to KC as well. and Jonathan India is going on the injured list. Let’s talk about those flurry of roster moves next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Locked on Podcast Network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can catch us on wherever you listen to your podcast. Two sponsors I want to tell you about before we dive into our second segment, beginning with Upside. Hey Lockdown Royals fans, are you still paying full price for gas? Stop leaving money behind and get real cash back every time you fill up with the free upside app. Simply download the free upside app in the App Store or Google Play right now and start earning cash at the pump today. 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And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. And I’ll go for Thursday’s game and Friday’s game here. I am going to take the over on total yards by Jaylen Herz. The Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions, will be taking on the Dallas Cowboys who have been all over the media in the last week, trading Michael Parsons and giving out a lengthy extension as well uh to Don Bland. So, you’ve got quite the showdown and quite the rivalry game for Thursday, but I’m going to go with the quarterback on the Eagle side uh taking the over there on total yards. As for the Chiefs, I am going to take the over on receiving yards for Xavier Worthy. think he has a really big game or she Rice not going to be available. That would then put Worthy in my opinion as their true number one wide receiver. Next part of today’s show is going to be a continuation of what we just talked about. Carter Jensen, he gets to call to Kansas City, but he’s not the only one coming back to Kansas City or I should say going to Kansas City because this is Carter’s first time in the big leagues. This will be the second goound for Jack Kegleion and Luender Ozela. The one thing that crossed my mind when I saw Jensen and Kaggleon get called up is how is this going to work, right? How is this lineup going to work with two young prospects like that? One of them is a right fielder and first baseman. One of them is a catcher and you have three catchers on the roster. My first thought was how often can Mikey Stressky play left field? Because if Carter Jensen’s going to catch, it’s kind of a domino effect here. If Carter Jensen is going to catch, Salvador Perez is going to be DH. Unless you just give him that complete off day, which with 26ish games to go, I’m not really sure that is the best method in putting him on the bench. I mean, Salvador Perez still is close to 30 home runs. He’s a season vet. We’ll see how Carter Jensen looks, but to give him a complete off day for a rookie in Jensen and Jack Kaggleon who was hitting under 150 before he got put on the injured list doesn’t feel like the best lineup possible. For the future, it absolutely would be. If the Royals were eight games out of a playoff spot, then yes, we’re resting Salvador Perez. It’s Kaggs and Jensen in the lineup pretty much every single day. But on nights where Carter Jensen is catching and Jack Kaggleó is another option you can start and Salvi’s dhing. Well, where is Jack Kaggleó going? If it’s against a right-hander, you’re going to have Mike Ystreky out there. Mikey’s been one of this team’s best hitters since the deadline. And as easy as it would say, or I could say, we’ll move him over to left field. Mike Shremsky’s barely played any left field. really he’s been a center fielder and a right fielder and 85 to 90% of the time in his career he’s been a right fielder. Jack Kaggleon is not a right fielder. Yes, he plays there. Yes, he looks smooth from time to time. Mike Estreky is the much better option in right field. I mean, you just go back to the games where Kaggs is in right and what it’s looked like since Yaz has been in right. Totally different. And how he tracks the ball, how he gets the ball into the infield. It’s nothing against Kaggs. He’s a first baseman playing right field. But that also factors in here to this decision to bring up both Jensen and Kaggs. Is Kaggs not going to be playing every single day? I mean, we heard so often from JJ Beak and Matro, hey, the roster is different. We have two new outfielders, technically three if you want to count Adam Frasier and his flexibility. You’ve got Gritic, Yaz, and Frasier that have all been playing the outfield. You still have Nick Loftton off the bench. Tyler Tolbert’s going to be on this team for the month of September. And for Kaggle Leone, he’s not playing first base, not with Vinny the way that he’s been playing over the last month to month and a half. You know, Carter Jensen, he can only catch or DH. So, I do wonder how often the Royals are really going to be able to get those two in the lineup at the same time. And if they feel that Yaz can play left field, then okay, because I do feel that Yaz can make that transition to left field much easier than Jack Kaggleon can. I would like to see Jack Kagleion just dhing. And when he’s not dhing, you know, maybe you do put him in right field there, maybe he does get a shot at first base, but Vinnie’s going to be playing every single night. Salvador Perez might have an off day or two in the final month of the season, but I anticipate him being out there a lot. Uh, but maybe it’s a Carter or Jack type of thing where when Salvi’s catching, that’s when Jack Kagleó’s in the lineup. when Carter’s catching, that’s when Carter’s in the lineup and Salvi’s going to be dhaging. That would be my prediction for it. Uh because it is a bit of a log gym now. And that’s the way it usually is in September. You’re not going to have the perfect everybody’s got this spot and and there’s the backup to this player. No, the Royals mix and match a lot of different guys with certain matchups. And I don’t know if the Angels have announced their starter for tomorrow. Uh, but if it’s a righty, I feel that Carter Jensen’s going to be making his debut. And we’ll see if the Royals try to squeeze Jack Kaggleon in there. I mean, he played left field a few times in Northwest Arkansas and Omaha, but there’s not a lot of familiarity there. And you’ve already made him learn right field. I would rather see Yaz in left field, but he also doesn’t play it a lot either. He can handle it because he’s a an established big league outfielder where Kaggle Leone’s still trying to get his feet wet. I’m just very interested in how Muero is going to be handling uh those lineups moving forward. September is a little bit more difficult. You got more guys on the roster and more bats to put in there. Uh we also saw Linder Avala get the call and I wanted to tie Steven Kolick into this as well. Steven Kolick had a great Royals debut on Saturday. I was out there. I was out there Saturday and Sunday. Kick goes out there and tosses a quality start. And this is coming off an outing in which Seth Lugo was not good whatsoever through nearly 90 to 95 pitches in less than than four innings. I mean, it was an absolute disaster and it’s been a disaster. Just calling it as I see it for Seth Luga since he signed the extension. But Steven Kick, he has to make the start. They wanted to give Noah Cameron a little extra rest there. Michael Walka on the maternity list. He came off of that on Sunday. But Steven Colola gets the ball on Saturday and he needs to give the Royals length. You’re playing a great team. You need to go at least five. And he goes six and holds the Tigers to one run. It’s the only game the Royals win in that series. And that was great to see. I mean, with what Ryan Ber’s done since the Fine deal. You’ve wanted about Steven Kick. He wasn’t great in TripleA, but we talked about that is that Steven Kick had bad numbers in AAA in El Paso for the Padres’s and then had fine numbers in the big leagues. And then lo and behold, bad numbers for Omaha. He’s walking the world down there and he comes up, throws six innings of one run ball and doesn’t walk anybody. He’s a pitch to contact type of guy and I would love to see him in Kansas City again before the season comes to a close. Here’s the the hangup though, and we did discuss this on our mailbag Saturday. Steven Kick, cuz he was sent back down yesterday, has to stay in the minor leagues for a minimum amount of days. And that would be around I want to say like September 7th, 8th or 9th when he could return to Kansas City, which is why Avala got the call. If Steven Kick was not called upon to make that start on Saturday and Noah Cameron made the start, I feel that instead of Avala, it would have been Kolk. But, you know, Avala gives them a little length out of the bullpen. He’s got power stuff, which Kolic really doesn’t. And I hope that we get to see an extended look at Lwender Avala at some point. I I hope in the first game against the Angels, Michael Lorenzan throws well, the bats come alive, and it’s, you know, 10 to one by the sixth inning, and you’re able to turn it over to Avala for a couple. This is somebody that I feel can be a great piece to that bullpen moving forward. and Steven Kick. If that’s all we get for him or from him uh in Kansas City in 2025, at least it’s a quality start and we can go into spring training next year knowing that he can he can compete for one of those spots in the rotation or one of the spots in the bullpen. And lastly, Jonathan India going on the injured list. Uh he’s just had a rough year in terms of being banged up. I feel that he’s played through a lot of different injuries. I thought yesterday when he wasn’t in the lineup against Scooble and Michael Massie was out there though Massie did get a hit off Scubble in his first at bat. I I found that odd where you usually load up the lineup with righties against Scooble and India is not out there. He was in the dugout. I could see that. But he’s got a wrist sprain. It’s retroactive to August 30th. So he’s got to be on the injured list for a chunk of time here. Maybe that’s the last we see of Jonathan India um for 2025. And I don’t really know what the plan will be in the off season just yet, but Michael Massie and Adam Frasier, they’re going to be getting the reps at second base moving forward. Let’s take our final break of the show. When we come back, let’s talk about this final month of the season, where the Royals stand and what it’s going to take to grab that final playoff spot. That’s next on Lockdown Royals. You are tuning to Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. Two things I want to tell you about. Beginning with our listener survey. We have an important request and Lockdown wants to hear from you. We’ve put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcast even better. This is your chance to tell us what you like, what you don’t, and answer questions about our advertising. Go to lockedonpodcast.com/servey to get started. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards. Again, that’s lockedonpodcast.com/servey and you can also find the link in the show notes. Thanks as always for helping us out. Also want to tell you about prize picks. And with football being back, prize picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on the action. Just pick more or less on two to six player projections and you can take your turn into real prizes all in less than 60 seconds. Download the Price Picks app today and use code lockdown MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown MLB for $50 in lineups after your first $5 play. Prize picks. It’s good to be right. We have one month left in the regular season. And for many of you listening, you’re hoping that this is not the last month we talk about baseball and the Royals playing uh each and every night. Because if they don’t make that final push, they make up these three games in the final month, then we’re going to be done talking about the 2025 Royals come, you know, October 1st. And, you know, we’re still going to have our our podcast throughout the fall and throughout the winter. That’s what doesn’t change here. We give you episodes five days a week really until January or February. And then we have maybe a month to month and a half where we do three episodes a week. But don’t worry, Royals uh Royals talk is going to continue year round. Basically, you’re never going to have to worry about that from our end. Uh but in this final month, we need to see if the Royals really do have it in them. And we did multiple episodes over the last couple weeks. Do they have a run in them? What is it going to take? And you know, so often we said, well, this series is one they got to have, right? This is the series they need to make some moves. and the probability, the odds, the percentages, they’re going to tell you the Royals are not making the postseason. They are still in the hunt. And as I’ve tried to say before, it’s fun to have meaningful September baseball. It’d be a different thing right now if the Royals were doing what the Orioles were where they’re 61 and 76. They’re coming off back-to-back postseason appearances, and they’ve really been out of the hunt for multiple months. In fact, with their sluggish start to the season, the Orioles have been down and out for all of 2025. I mean, if it was something like that, what are we really talking about today? Yeah, September callups and what the future could be looking like, but for the Royals, at least we get to talk about a final month where it matters. And these next six games are vitally important. And really, every series the rest of the way is vitally important for the Royals. They drop the series to the Tigers. I’m sure that game on Friday stings a lot more than the game on Sunday. When you go and facing Terk Scubble, you’re not, you know, bookmarking that as a as a win or when you have a good chance of winning. Friday, they had a three to nothing lead and they blew it. Seth Luga was not on his game and the offense didn’t score after the first inning. Even if they won two of three against Detroit, uh you still have work to do. There is still work to be done. And I look at the American League wild card race. You’ve got New York now at top u of the wild card spots here. They’re 76 and 61. Boston is 76 and 62, a half game back of them. And then you’ve got Seattle who’s 73 and 64. They are only two games back of Houston for the top spot in the AL West. And then Texas yesterday leapfrog the Royals. They just seem to never go away either. And they’ve won five in a row. They’re eight and two in their last 10, though they have multiple key players on the the injured list. So, we’ll see how long Texas can keep that up. They’re 71-67. The Royals 70 and 67, three games back. Cleveland right behind them at 68-67. And Tampa Bay not done just yet. They’re 67 and 69 at five and a half back. And they just won three in a row as well. Uh so, in this final month, what is it going to take for the Royals? Number one, they’re going to need to play their their best month of baseball. uh we can try to get very fine with it and say, “Well, they need to go, you know, 15 and and let’s say 10, like 15 and 10 the rest of the way, that would put them eight games over 500. I don’t believe 85 and 77 gets it done.” Um, you look at the teams on their schedule, you’ve got the Angels for three, you’ve got the Twins for three, then you’ve got a very difficult stretch where you go on the road to face Cleveland, you go on the road to face Philadelphia, you host Toronto, you host Seattle, then you wrap up the year on the road in Anaheim, and then on the road in Sacramento against the Athletics. So, six easy games, then a stretch of of three series where it’s going to be really tough. You got two road series in that and then you wrap up the year against a lackluster Angels team and an A’s team that doesn’t really have the record, but we know how threatening that offense can be, especially when they’re playing in Sacramento in that minor league ballpark. Uh, but I believe they got to play their best baseball. I I feel they have to be the best team in the American League to really make things happen. And and I know that’s a bit of a stretch and maybe I’m chewing being too aggressive with that type of take, but we saw that with the Tigers last year and they actually ended the month of August under 500. So they absolutely had to play their best baseball and really better baseball than anybody else in the sport if they wanted to make the postseason and they barely did. For the Royals, it’s not as drastic, but I feel if you really want to lock it in, if you want to have those playoff odds over 50% at some point, you got to be really good over the last 25 games. I mean, you got to find a way in this this home stand or the the last six games of this home stand to sweep one of these teams and take two of three from the other. And that all begins tomorrow. I mean, you’ve got an Angels team that’s 64 and 72. They’re not awful, but they’ve not been good since the trade deadline. They tried to make a couple of moves, but overall, the Angels do not have a good rotation. They do have some some threats in the lineup, but this is a team playing them at home. And playing them at the end of the year, you need to win the series in both of them. And then against Minnesota, they got you in Minnesota when they took two of three. They walked you off in the series finale, but it’s a Twins team that is a shell of its former self. I mean, it is no longer a Minnesota Twins team that you should feel uh is even equal to you talentwise, record-wise, anything like that. Yes, they’ll probably face Joe Ryan. He threw on Sunday. I’ll need to see actually if the Twins play today, which they do. That might mean that they could have Joe Ryan throwing in their series on Thursday. Uh we’ll see though because it is a four game series for them against the White Socks. Joe Ryan threw yesterday, so maybe that means on Friday, Joe Ryan will be throwing against the Royals. Still, if you want to be a playoff team, you’re going to have to have those games against good opponents and good arms that you can beat. And in the last 25 games, I’d like to see something along the lines of of 17 and eight. I’d like to see something, you know, even even better than that. Right? If you have this team at 70 and 67, you’ve got a Mariners team that has six more road games left on their nine-game road trip. The Guardians begin a seven-game road trip. The Rangers have the Diamondbacks and the Astros this week. You got to make up some ground here because you’re not going to have that type of relief a week from now. A week from now, you’ll be in Cleveland and you’ll be taking on the Guardians, a team that you just never seem to fare that well against in Cleveland. I know last year they had the uh winning record against them, but overall, I mean, go the last 10 years. This is a a Guardians franchise, a Cleveland franchise that has the Royals number. But if you can go into this sixgame stretch and go five and one and now you are 75 and 68 which we kind of put is that target mark of going I guess that would have been 6 and3 right 6 and three on this nineame home stand you take that 75 and 68 still keeps you in the hunt and whatever happens with Seattle and and the Rangers and Cleveland we’ll just wait to find that out on Sunday but if you go five and one that puts a lot of pressure on them to play good baseball in these next two series. But for this final month, yes, I want to see what Carter Jensen has. Yes, I want to see if Jack Kaggleó has figured some things out, has tweaked his swing a little bit. I want to see the best version of this team possible. And they’re going to be more rested. That’s probably the best news here. The bullpen gets an extra arm. The bench gets two extra bats here. Uh, it’s great news for the Royals to feel rested because I do feel that in the last week or so, we’ve seen that fatigue setting in a little bit. They got the off day today, can relax. Six more home games. More re more reinforcements on the way, but you got to play your best baseball. Three games is not a lot as we saw. I mean, on Saturday, they were two games back and the Mariners were losing in the series finale to Cleveland and the Royals were still tied with the Tigers in like the third inning yesterday. And I’m starting to think the the Guardians can hold on. Yes, the Guardians are right on your right on your heels, but you’d be a game back at Seattle going into the off day. That’s how quickly things can change. But if you want to make it much easier on yourself, you just got to keep stacking wins. And I know a lot of you have just commented that just win. Just keep stacking these wins, stacking series wins, and it’s going to put more and more pressure on those teams that you’re chasing. Well, that’s going to do it for another edition of Locked on Royals and the Locked On podcast network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. It’s another big moment on Locked On. College Football Fans, Locked On and Fire TV present College Football Kickoff, your ultimate college football weekly preview. Drake Tol of Locked On Big 12 leads the conversation alongside two-time AP Coach of the Year Gary Patterson, former college star Jesse Holly, and Locked On’s local experts. A college football preview only LockDon can do. Catch college football kickoff every Thursday throughout the season only on Fire TV. Tomorrow, we’re gonna preview this upcoming series against the Los Angeles Angels. And we’re going to dive a little bit more into some targets for the offseason with it being the final month of the regular season. There’s nothing wrong with looking ahead to what the couple next months have for us. But, uh, we’ll dive into some free agent talk. We’ll talk about the Angel series. We’ll do all of that tomorrow when we see you next. You take it easy, Kansas City.

We react to the news of the Royals’ No. 2 prospect getting the promotion for September call-ups. Next, we discuss the other roster moves the team made with one month left in the regular season. Lastly, we ask what it will take in the final month for the Royals to grab a Wild Card spot.

Host Jack Johnson goes over it all next on “Locked On Royals”!

0:00 – Jensen
12:56 – Other roster moves
22:44 – One month left

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6 comments
  1. Exited for this playoff push I really can’t wait for Carter Jensen. I think cags will be better because he definitely has confidence Again. I don’t understand why Avila got the call over kolek. I hope we go 5-1 the rest of the homestand and hope to be 1 game back

  2. This means Luke maile is bye-bye. We don't need three catchers and this also means Carter is now going to be protected from the rule 5 draft before it has to be done in November. Oh I guess the roster only had 39 so they don't have to DFA anyone I don't think.. at least not until Cole is ready

  3. There's been like 15 times this season where a player's return from the IL or a player being called up from AAA has just magically coincided with another player getting "injured" to make room for them on the roster. At what point can we start calling some of these what they are, Phantom IL Stints.

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