Royals release Nelson Velázquez This afternoon. The news was announced by their Triple-A member in Omaha. The club also announced it has been activated Cavan Biggiorecommended that the veteran infielder agree to accept minor league missions after being selected over the weekend. During spring training, Velázquez has been replaced in Kansas City’s 40-man roster, so that won’t affect the MLB roster count.
Velázquez landed in the Radar deadline trade with Kansas City in 2023. José Cuas Come to the bear in one-on-one exchange. Both players had some success in the early stages of the new organization, but proved in each case that it was short-lived.
The 26-year-old Velázquez drilled 14 home runs in his first 40 games with royalty. He hit .233 with a base rate of 0.299, although the force shock was enough to open up the 24 season as Matt Quatraro’s main designated hitter. Velázquez couldn’t maintain his pace last year. He managed eight long balls in his career-high 230 set appearances. He’s already average hitting and base markings are heading in the wrong direction. He finished the season with a 0.200/.274/.366 batting line while hitting nearly 27% of the time.
Velázquez couldn’t turn things around early this year. He reached .208 in 12 spring training matches and hit the .202/.298/.377 in Omaha’s 131 set appearance. Velázquez averaged 92.5 mph on a minor’s batting ball, but he hit a lot of infield pop-up pop-ups on more than a quarter of his trip. He doesn’t have much power over the power, as he’s a bad defensive outfielder and has spent more time as a DH this year. He’ll probably look for another minor league opportunity elsewhere.
