The Royals continued adding to their roster, claiming lefty infielder Braden Shewmake from the Chicago White Sox. Shewmake was designated for assignment on January 1. Chicago acquired him from the Atlanta Braves in November 2023 via trade in a deal that sent Aaron Bummer to Atlanta. With Atlanta, Shewmake was a solid prospect. Selected in the first round of the 2019 draft, Shewmake debuted as the organization’s seventh-best prospect in Pipeline’s 2020 Top 30 rankings. He hovered around that top-five area up until his big league debut.

His last full season in the Minor Leagues saw Shewmake slash .234/.298/.407 with Triple-A Gwinnett. His 19.8% strikeout rate told the story of a hitter making plenty of contact, but unable to translate that contact into enough power to maintain positive offensive output. Defensively, however, Shewmake had become one of the better defensive shortstops in the entire minor leagues. That defense is likely the largest draw now for Kansas City.

Shewmake played sparingly for Chicago in 2024, missing ample time due to injury. He pieced together just 67 big league plate appearances, slashing .125/.234/.203. Defensively, Shewmake spent time at third base, second base, and shortstop. He didn’t grade especially well anywhere except third base where he was worth one OAA in 59.0 innings of work. He has one option year remaining and offers the Royals some untapped potential, much like their other recent additions of Jordan Groshans and Cavan Biggio. More importantly, adding a proven defender on the left side of the infield gives the Royals depth behind Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia — something they rarely had last season.