KANSAS CITY -- In another shakeup to ideally help their offense, the Royals optioned utility man Cavan Biggio to Triple-A Omaha and selected outfielder John Rave to the roster prior to a 7-4 series-opening loss to the Reds on Monday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
Rave was in the lineup on Monday, batting sixth and playing right field. He went 0-for-2 at the plate with two strikeouts and his first MLB walk.
“He did what you want players to do: Go back down and force our hand,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “We thought the way he was performing -- we’ve been talking about it for maybe 10 days now -- continuing to do well, obviously, we’re looking for a little bit of spark in our offense, and he’s a well-rounded player.
“Good hitter, good defender, he runs the bases well. He plays the type of game that we feel like we need to play to be a winning team.”
Rave found out on Sunday before the Storm Chasers’ game against Triple-A Salt Lake that he wasn’t going to be in the lineup. The reason? He had a flight to Kansas City in a few hours. Omaha manager Mike Jirschele told Rave that the Royals didn’t know yet if they would activate him, so Rave was told to “hang tight.”
“The whole game, I was a bit jittery,” Rave said. “... I was just trying to keep my cool as long as I could.”
Rave snuck out of the ballpark as his team went to extra innings to catch his flight. After top prospect Jac Caglianone homered to help Omaha win – “shocker,” Rave said, referencing Caglianone’s five homers in four games -- Jirschele called Rave to say he was going to be on the Royals’ roster on Monday.
That’s when the emotions hit him.
“Just grateful,” Rave said. “Thankful. It was pretty emotional.”
Kansas City entered this week having scored 3.3 runs per game, third-worst in the Majors, and its 32 home runs are the lowest in MLB. The Royals just lost a series in Minnesota where they went 6-for-32 with runners in scoring position and stranded 27 baserunners in three games.
The Royals need help and improvement up and down their lineup, and Rave will get an opportunity in the outfield to show what he can do. He bats from the left side and will likely draw the majority of playing time against right-handers.
“We’ve talked about [how] the bottom of the lineup needs to manufacture runs,” Picollo said. “He’s a guy that can help us manufacture runs. He uses the short game, he’s not afraid to bunt, he knows how to move runners. He’ll put the ball in play with guys in scoring position. That’s winning baseball, and we need guys to play that way.”
The removal of Biggio from the 26-man roster comes with a transaction caveat. Because he has five-plus years of service time, he has to consent to the option – or he can elect free agency. Biggio has until Wednesday to make a decision, but the Royals expressed to him how much they’d like for him to stay in the organization. It’ll likely come down to whether Biggio can find another Major League opportunity.
“He is a guy who takes really good at-bats and can walk,” Picollo said. “Right now, we’re looking for a little bit more offense. We opted for Rave. But hopefully [Biggio is] still in our system -- it’s a long year, and he’ll probably work his way back here.”
Biggio signed a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training this past offseason with Kansas City, and the club added him to the 40-man roster ahead of Opening Day. The 30-year-old logged 37 games for the Royals and slashed .174/.296/.246. He served as a left-handed bat off the bench and could play all over the field.
Rave is limited to the outfield, but he can play all three spots. The Royals also have defensive versatility with the right-handed Nick Loftin on the roster.
Anne Rogers covers the Royals for MLB.com.