Royals Augment Their Bench With Free-Swinging Paul DeJong

Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the Royals act like contenders, but given that they entered the morning of the trade deadline with a one-game lead for the third AL Wild Card spot, the behavior is merited. On Monday they added righty starter Michael Lorenzen in a deal with the Rangers, and on Tuesday afternoon they swung deals for A’s reliever Lucas Erceg and White Sox infielder Paul DeJong. None of them are blockbusters, but they all fortify Kansas City’s roster, with the DeJong move a step to address a particularly weak bench.

The Royals acquired the 30-year-old DeJong, who’s making $1.75 million this year and has another $250,000 in bonuses within reach for attaining the 400- and 500-plate appearance thresholds, in exchange for 21-year-old righty Jarold Rosado, a reliever with the Royals’ A-level Columbia affiliate. The trade took place about four hours before the Royals were set to play the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, so DeJong joined his new club — his fourth since the start of the 2023 season — by walking from one dugout to the other.

Drafted and developed by the Cardinals, DeJong was once considered a foundational player. Coming off a 25-homer 2017 season in which he was the runner-up in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, he signed a six-year, $26 million extension, a record at the time for a player with less than one year of service time. He hit 30 home runs and made the NL All-Star team in 2019, but by May ’22, in the midst of his second consecutive season with a sub-.200 batting average, the Cardinals optioned him to Triple-A Memphis to revamp his swing. His performance rebounded, though not to his 2017–19 level, and so on August 1, 2023, he was traded to the Blue Jays. He went an unfathomable 3-for-44 for the Jays before drawing his release three weeks later, and then just 9-for-49 after being picked up by the Giants. For the season, he hit .207/.258/.355 (66 wRC+).

Playing nearly every day for a White Sox team that’s slipped below the 1962 Mets’ .250 winning percentage, DeJong has been better this year, though his route to a 95 wRC+ has been an extreme one, as he’s hitting .228/.275/.430 via an ultra-aggressive approach. His 58.4% swing rate ranks fourth among all qualifiers, while his 18.5% swinging strike rate is second; both are career highs, with the former eight points above his career average and the latter nearly five points above. His 33% chase rate is merely the second-highest mark of his career, but what’s particularly eye-catching is that he’s at 40.9% — with slightly higher swing and swinging-strike rates than those cited — since being traded last year. It’s as though he’s hacking away to exact revenge for being forced to submit to the Cardinal Way for so many years. His .245 on-base percentage in that span is the majors’ lowest, and might be read as a tribute to bygone Royals shortstops. Sure, it’s the trade deadline, but let us pause to Remember Some Guys:

Royals Shortstops With Lowest On-Base Percentages
Player Yrs PA OBP wRC+
Angel Salazar 1986–1987 645 .242 38
Tony Pena Jr. 2007–2009 824 .247 36
Neifi Perez 2001–2002 805 .265 40
Buddy Biancalana 1982–1987 582 .269 57
Yuniesky Betancourt 2009–2012 1079 .276 76
Onix Concepcion 1980–1985 1130 .277 57
Jackie Hernandez 1969–1970 811 .279 58
Adalberto Mondesi 2016–2022 1366 .280 79
Alcides Escobar 2011–2018 5012 .292 71
Minimum 500 plate appearances since 1969 and majority of games played with Royals at shortstop.

DeJong is in the ballpark of these hackers because he’s walked in just 3.9% of his plate appearances while striking out in 30.9%; only Ezequiel Tovar and Ceddanne Rafaela have lower walk rates. When he does make contact, his 88-mph average exit velocity ranks in just the 28th percentile, but his 9.6% barrel rate is in the 65th, and his 41.1% hard-hit rate in the 62nd. He leads the White Sox with 18 home runs, but he’s moving from a ballpark conducive to righty power to one that’s not; in terms of our park home run factors for righties, Guaranteed Rate Field is at 107, Kauffman Stadium at 94.

Now, while DeJong has played 89 games at shortstop this year, he’s surely not going to supplant Bobby Witt Jr. there. He does have some experience at both third base (11 games this season) and second (22 career games, none this year), and could bump the less-productive Nick Loftin, Adam Frazier, or Garrett Hampson from the roster, though for the moment the Royals made room by designating pitcher John McMillon for assignment. All three of those non-Witt infielders are hitting for a 76 wRC+ or lower; Loftin is the only one with minor league options remaining. The most logical fit for DeJong would be as the short half of a platoon with lefty-swinging Michael Massey at second base, but DeJong has managed just a 68 wRC+ in 202 PA against lefties since the start of last season, compared to an 84 wC+ in 561 PA against righties. In that light, starting at third base instead of righty-swinging Maikel Garcia (who has just a 72 wRC+ against righties) makes more sense.

If DeJong is an upgrade for the Royals, he’s a modest one. To get him, the team gave up what amounts to the proverbial lottery ticket in Rosado, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound righty whom the Royals signed out of the Dominican Republic in July 2022. Here’s what Eric Longenhagen had to say about him in notes provided to me on Tuesday:

Rosado sits 94-97 mph with his fastball and has a plus-projected, 2,700-rpm curveball and a seldom-used changeup. He’s got a super-high release point, with nearly seven feet of extension, and gets steep downhill movement, particularly on the curve. As an athlete, Rosado is rather tightly wound and stiff, so even though he’s thrown strikes to this point, he’s been in a relief-only role for the past two years and is likely to stay there. He’s Rule 5-eligible this offseason, but has only pitched in Low-A, so he’s likely to be left off the 40-man roster, go unselected this year, and then have an opportunity to earn a 40-man spot after next season. He’s a middle relief prospect tracking for a 2026 debut.

As for the White Sox, they traded away righty Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham on Monday, and then dealt outfielder Eloy Jiménez to the Orioles and lefty Tanner Banks on Tuesday.





Brooklyn-based Jay Jaffe is a senior writer for FanGraphs, the author of The Cooperstown Casebook (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017) and the creator of the JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score) metric for Hall of Fame analysis. He founded the Futility Infielder website (2001), was a columnist for Baseball Prospectus (2005-2012) and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated (2012-2018). He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011, and a Hall of Fame voter since 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jay_jaffe... and BlueSky @jayjaffe.bsky.social.

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MikeSMember since 2020
3 months ago

Looks like the White Sox didn’t move either Crochet or Robert Jr. Maybe they figure they will be worth more in the off season, but I wouldn’t discount an intent on trying to win 40 games.