On Wednesday, the list of minor league free agents for the current offseason was made public. Among the list was 13 Kansas City Royals minor leaguers, including three with big league service time, one notable trade acquisition from recent years, and a former Top 30 prospect. None of the names are especially surprising, and there is still a chance that any of these players could be back with the Royals for next season and beyond. Diego Hernandez, for example, was designated for assignment last offseason just to return to the Royals.
Among the now-free agent players from the farm system, just three ranked within our top 87 prospects in the Kansas City farm system. The highest among them is Devin Mann. Mann ranked as our number 33 prospect in the farm system and was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2023 trade deadline. The Royals sent Ryan Yarbrough to the Dodgers for Mann and Derlin Figueroa. Mann is now 27 years old and has put together a solid MiLB career. He appeared in 101 games for Triple-A Omaha in 2024, slashing .257/.358/.420 while playing mostly at second base.
Center fielder Diego Hernandez was once a fixture on the Royals’ 40-man roster. The Royals added him, perhaps a bit prematurely, in the Dayton Moore era and he’s had a downhill trajectory ever since. Now 23 years old, injuries derailed a large chunk of Hernandez’s recent career. He appeared in just 69 games last season but spent the entirety of 2024 with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. The results simply weren’t great. He finished the year with just a 73 wRC+ and a .241 on-base percentage.
Infielder Leonel Valera was a free agent signing by the Royals in 2023. He spent most of his early career in the Dodgers system and was playing in his age-24 season in 2024. His entire season came with Northwest Arkansas and like Hernandez struggled greatly. He finished the season with a 71 wRC+, playing a mixture of shortstop and third base. The full list of minor league free agents is below. All of these players will now be free to sign anywhere, including back with the Royals if they wish. Diego was our 70th ranked prospect and Valera ranked no. 86 out of 87 players in our ranking database.
RHP Ricky Karcher
RHP Dinelson Lamet
C Rodolfo Duran
C Enmanuel Pire
OF Nathan Eaton
OF Diego Hernandez
SS Leonel Valera
LHP Austin Cox
LHP Rylan Kaufman
LHP Keylan Killgore
2B Ryan Fitzgerald
3B Devin Mann
3B Josh Lester
