Which Royals who won’t make the Opening Day roster will have the biggest impact?

While Opening Day lineup discussion is all well and fun, the reality is that there are players who won’t make the 2025 Opening Day roster but will play in multiple games throughout the year.

Last year, 16 Royals hitters accrued 100 or more plate appearances and 17 Royals pitchers threw for 20 or more innings, making a total of 33 players who made some sort of sustained impact. The year prior, there were 39 such players, and in 2022 there were 34 such players. With a 26-man roster, in other words, that means that there are going to be in the realm of 10 or so players who don’t make the Opening Day roster but who end up on the active roster for sizable portions of the year.

Some of those extra players are guys like Lucas Erceg and Tommy Pham were last year—midseason trades or waiver wire pickups, the kinds of guys who weren’t even in the organization. Others, like Carlos Hernandez or Kris Bubic last year, came up from the minors or back from injury.

We can assume the Royals will acquire someone at the trade deadline. But internally, who are the players who will eventually contribute to the team but will miss out on the Opening Day pageantry? In this exercise, we’ll use Anne Rogers’ latest roster projection for MLB dot com, as we have to start somewhere and she’s got more insight into the organization than just about anyone. Not every non-roster invitee here is considered.

Significant contributors

These players will be roster mainstays the second half of the year, if not sooner. Their performance, for good or ill, will leave a mark on the team’s success.

Jac Caglianone
Alec Marsh
Noah Cameron

Marsh tossed 129 innings last year and was good for a lot of them, and a player like that makes the roster the following year unless they are hurt. Marsh is, unfortunately, hurt, but he’ll have a spot with his name on it when he’s back. Cameron was fighting for a rotation spot but didn’t get it. In years past, he would have—Cameron demolished the upper minors as a starting pitcher last year with a 27.8% strikeout rate and a 3.08 ERA, and he will be one of the first in line when and if there is an injury.

Caglianone will in all likelihood go to Double-A and dabble in the outfield to begin the year, which is what should happen. At the same time, I really do think he’s close. With a thin outfield and a lack of impact hitters after Witt, Salvy, and Vinnie, he’ll have every chance to work his way into the roster for half a season or more.

Some playing time

These players will be in and out of the roster as needed. They will be the first ones up when injuries happen or when doubleheaders occur. Don’t be stunned to see them on the roster for large stretches—they just won’t be everyday players.

Nick Loftin
Joey Wiemer
Tyler Gentry
Gavin Cross
Kyle Wright
Taylor Clarke
Austin Cox
Evan Sisk
Steven Cruz

First, the outfielders: Wiemer, Gentry, and Loftin are all already on the 40-man roster, which gives them a big leg up over everyone else when there’s an injury or a roster change. Loftin will also get time in the infield. Cross isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, but as a top-10 draft pick he’s got expectations (and a skillset) that lends itself to him being favored.

On the pitching side, Wright will likely pitch for the team to some degree when he’s back from injury. Clarke, Cox, Sisk, and Cruz are relievers who bring very different things to the table, but are the next level of depth. Sisk and Cruz are already on the 40-man roster as well.

Low impact

These players might not make a single appearance for the 2025 Royals, and if they do, it’ll be in the “hey I forgot this player played for the team” sort of way.

Drew Waters
John Rave
Nelson Velazquez
Tyler Tolbert
Javier Vaz
Carlos Hernandez
Chandler Champlain
Andrew Hoffman
Eric Cerantola

I wish the Royals would give Waters more of a shot—they traded a supplemental draft pick for him, after all, but have passed over him multiple times. But though Waters is on the 40-man, I think it’s obvious what the Royals think of him.

Rave strikes me as a David Lough backup, but I don’t know if there is a situation the Royals would pick him over, like, Gentry or Wiemer if there was an issue.

Velazquez and Hernandez play different positions, but they’re the same: they have no options left and they have been underwhelming in Spring Training. Maybe they come back on minor league deals, but the Royals have other, more flexible options.

I like Vaz and think he could end up with a Nicky Lopez sort of career as utility guy, and Tolbert I really like due to his superutility (he played five positions last year) and extreme speed (he stole 48 bases at a 90% success clip). Both need to spend significant time at Triple-A, though, and neither is on the 40-man roster.

Champlain, Hoffman, and a bunch of other pitchers not mentioned and not on the 40-man, could eventually make the team someday but there are a bunch of options before you get down the line to them. Cerantola is on the 40-man, but he also walks a billion guys, so he’ll have to work on that before he gets his day in the sun.