Nelson

Velazquez

Velázquez was hitting .200/.274/.366 in 230 plate appearances. He’s cut back on the strikeouts a bit this year, but his power production has also dwindled, as his hard-hit rate had come in at 38%. Last year, he was at 48%. He’ll get another chance if he can fire in Triple-A, but with his lack of defensive value, he needs to provide a lot of offense to justify his spot.

No word yet on the reason for the change. It’ll be Nelson Velásquez taking over at designated hitter and Nick Loftin moving up to the leadoff spot in Frazier’s absence during Sunday’s game against the Rangers.

Salvador Perez is the designated hitter for Sunday’s tilt against the Mariners, so Velazquez will retreat to the bench for the finale. The outfielder went 1-for-7 over the first two games of the series and has hit just .133 with a .544 OPS in the month of June.

Velázquez didn’t start the game, but he was brought on to face left-hander Yuki Matsui in the ninth inning and drilled a 109 mph triple off the center field wall to tie the game. It was a ball that could have left the yard in 18 of 30 MLB stadiums and continued Velázquez’s trend of only getting hits in big situations. In his last 11 games, Velázquez has gone 8-for-43 but five of those hits have been home runs and two others have driven in runs. The slugger is hitting just .219 on the season, which will dampen his fantasy value, but the power is for real.

Velázquez took Bailey Ober deep twice with one soaring an estimated 437 feet. He’s often been a streaky player and perhaps this is the start of his next hot streak.

Velazquez got Kansas City on the board with a solo homer in the second inning off Aaron Civale. Nine innings later, the 25-year-old outfielder doubled in the go-ahead run in the 11th to make it 5-4. Velasquez has gone deep five times with just 16 RBI so far in 2024, but Saturday was a nice day for the right-handed hitter.

Velázquez struck out in his other three plate appearances tonight, but the homer was huge, as Gilbert was on the verge of getting through seven scoreless frames. It was just Velázquez’s third homer in 130 plate appearances this season. He had 14 in 147 plate appearances after arriving from the Cubs in a trade last summer.

Rosenthal was quick to note that those talks “never advanced beyond the preliminary stage"; however, it’s interesting that the Royals even made the phone call because it tells us that the team is looking to capitalize on their fast start to the season which sees them just 2.5 games behind the Guardians in the AL Central. However, another interesting aspect of this is where the Royals may be looking to upgrade. Michael Massey has been pretty good at second base since coming off the IL and Vinnie Pasquantino is locked in at first base, so the Royals must have felt that Arraez could fill the DH spot, which means either Nelson Velazquez or Hunter Renfroe could be on notice in the midst of a slow start to the season.

Velazquez has not found much success in 2024 with an OPS of just .635 over 92 at-bats, and he’ll retreat to the bench against right-hander Jon Grey on Sunday. Salvador Perez will lineup at designated hitter while hitting in his usual fourth spot in the lineup while Freddy Fermin gets the start behind the plate.

Velázquez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second inning before connecting for a titanic 429-foot solo shot off White Sox starter Michael Soroka in the fourth inning. It was his second long ball of the season. He’s off to a nice start so far, batting .294 (5-for-17) with two homers and three RBI in five games.