Royals non-tender four players ahead of Friday's deadline – Farm to Fountains

On Friday, the MLB deadline for tendering contracts to players for the 2024 came and went. By rule, when a club non-tenders an eligible player they immediately become a free agent and are not subject to waivers. The Royals announced on Friday that they would not tender Major League contracts to four players, including Josh Staumont, Austin Cox, Logan Porter, and Diego Hernandez. Staumont and Porter were both designated for assignment earlier this week to make room for Tyler Gentry and Will Klein.

Cox, who suffered a torn ACL in September, was designated for assignment earlier Friday as a corresponding move after the team acquired Nick Anderson. The real surprise here, for some, was outfielder Diego Hernandez. The Royals added Hernandez to the 40-man roster rather prematurely back in November 2022. He looked impressive at both High-A and Double-A in 2022, but struggled much more in 2023.

Over 60 games for Northwest Arkansas, he slashed just .245/.302/.290. Injuries derailed a large portion of his season, but the power output simply hasn’t arrived and his plate discipline isn’t quite strong enough to make him valuable to this point. For Hernandez, he could get a chance to stick with the Royals organization, as he wasn’t arbitration eligible. He could return to the club on a minor league contract but will no longer have a place on the club’s 40-man roster. MLB Pipeline ranks Hernandez as the Royals 15th overall prospect. He ranks much lower in the Farm to Fountains prospect rankings, coming in at 37.

In additional roster news, the Royals announced they reached an agreement on a 2024 contract for reliever Josh Taylor. Taylor, who was arbitration eligible, was seen as a likely candidate to be non-tendered by many. Instead, he likely agreed to a lesser contract in order to remain with the team and avoid free agency.

With the latest moves, the Royals’ 40-man roster now stands at 39. That opening will allow Kansas City to make a selection in the upcoming Rule 5 draft. The draft will take place on December 6 as part of this year’s Winter Meetings.