On Saturday the Kansas City Royals announced two roster moves. Outfielder Mark Canha has been reinstated from the 10-day Injured List after completing his rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha. In a corresponding move, the team has optioned struggling outfielder MJ Melendez to Triple-A Omaha. Melendez entered the season with new swing mechanics but those changes haven’t resulted in any change in results.
The 26-year-old Melendez entered Saturday slashing just .085/.173/.170 on the season. He’s been worth -0.3 fWAR already, matching his 2024 season-long mark in just 16 games. Swing and miss has been the largest concern for Melendez. His new swing simply hasn’t helped the way we all hoped. He’s struck out 20 times this season with just one home run. The demotion marks Melendez’s first trip to Triple-A Omaha since 2022 — the year he made his big league debut. He spent a brief three-game stretch with Northwest Arkansas on rehab assignment in 2024.
For the Royals, they’ll hope that the move can somehow help their struggling offense. The team currently owns an American League-worst five game losing streak heading into Saturday’s contest in Detroit and their 62 runs scored (2.95 per game) ranks ahead of only the Chicago White Sox in the American League. The last time the Royals scored more than four runs in a game was back on April 4 in an 8-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The return of Canha will hopefully offer up a small spark to a lineup in desperate need. Across seven games before injury, Canha had slashed .357/.471/.500 with an 11.8% walk rate.
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