Mike

Mayers

Mayers inked a minor league pact with Toronto back in mid-March and never wound up making it back to the big leagues. The 32-year-old journeyman righty made six appearances (two starts) last year for the Royals and has racked up 204 appearances (eight starts) in the majors dating back to 2016.

The 32-year-old veteran will join Blue Jays camp with just a week left in spring training. He appeared in six games (two starts) last season with the Royals and posted a 6.14 ERA before he was taken off the roster in late June.

Mayers had a 6.15 ERA in two starts and four relief appearances for the Royals before being bumped from the roster in the middle of last month. The White Sox can keep him in Triple-A, but they need healthy arms and likely will bring him back to the majors.

Mayers could wind up electing free agency after going unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment over the weekend. The 31-year-old righty might end up opting to remain with Kansas City as extra organizational pitching depth.

Mayers has been removed from Kansas City’s 40-man roster after registering an inflated 6.15 ERA, 1.63 WHIP and 17/10 K/BB ratio across 26 1/3 innings (six appearances, two starts). The 31-year-old righty might attract some interest on waivers over the next few days because of his flexibility, but he’s merely organizational depth at this stage of his career.

Mayers was nearly perfect in six innings as a bulk guy last Monday. Tonight, though, he gave up hits to nine of the 19 batters he faced, striking out just one along the way. The Royals have Thursday off, so they could give Mayers a relief appearance or two before the next time they need a fifth starter or bulk guy.

The 31-year-old hurler has done as nice job so far for the Royals this season -- registering a 1.35 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a 14/5 K/BB ratio over 13 1/3 innings of work. In the deepest of mixed leagues, he’s probably worth a look as a streaming option -- though his chances of recording a win are certainly hurt by pitching for a Royals’ team that will enter play on Monday at 18-41.

Mayers took the ball after Josh Staumont worked a flawless opening frame, and wound up keeping a perfect-game bid alive into the eighth inning against his former team before finally giving up a leadoff single to Nolan Arenado. There has never been a combined perfect game in major league history, but the Royals came within six outs of the feat in this one. The 31-year-old righty retired 18 consecutive batters in this one and finished with three strikeouts. He’s compiled a microscopic 1.35 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 14/5 K/BB ratio across 13 1/3 innings (three appearances, one start) this season for Kansas City.

The 39-year-old hurler had been scheduled to toe the slab on Memorial Day, but instead that Royals will give each of their starters an extra day of rest. It sounds like Mike Mayers will take the ball against the Cardinals on Monday, though that has yet to be confirmed.

Mayers deserved the win tonight -- it would have been his first ever as a starter -- but since he didn’t complete five innings, it had to go to a reliever. Mayers now has a case for sticking in the rotation following Daniel Lynch’s return from the IL, not that it matters much for fantasy purposes.