September Call Ups: Royals add Brandon Finnegan, Terrance Gore

On Jun 17, Brandon Finnegan pitched for TCU at Omaha during the College World Series. Less than three months later, he skipped Omaha in the Royals organization and joined the big league club for the September home stretch. Mandatory credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

JUST AFTER THE trade deadline, the Kansas City Royals began thinking about what they would do in September during the final push to a potential postseason appearance.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore and his player development staff moved forward with the premise the team’s talents would begin hitting the wall physically in the season’s final month. In particular, Moore targeted the team’s relief corps where the back in is the best in baseball but the middle innings remain a serious problem.

To that end, the Royals immediately moved top Wilmington Blue Rocks starting pitchers Brandon Finnegan and Christian Binford into relief roles at higher levels, both to get them used to coming out of the bullpen and to see what they could do against stiffer competition.

Binford, at Triple-A Omaha, struggled with the transition. But Finnegan became the first Royals player since 1992 to reach the big leagues the same year he was drafted when he passed his Double-A Northwest Arkansas audition.

Finnegan was joined by reliever Casey Coleman, catcher Francisco Pena, second baseman Johnny Giavotella and outfielders Lane Adams and Carlos Peguero. Outfielder Terrance Gore was expected to join the team Tuesday.

-Finnegan, 21, the team’s first-round selection in June, was the ace on a TCU squad that reached the College World Series. After 15 innings of five-hit, one-run ball at Wilmington, was knocked around a bit after leaving an extreme pitching park for a hitter’s paradise at Northwest Arkansas, but still managed a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings. It is difficult to get a good read on his time in Double-A because the Naturals’ sloppy defense led to six additional unearned runs that came as the result of errors that extended innings and forced Finnegan to face extra batters. The general consensus is Finnegan will work toward the back of the bullpen to spell Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis.

– Coleman, 27, came to the Royals from the Cubs organization this season is expected to help out in middle relief. In 35 Omaha appearances, he posted a 5-1 record and 2.15 ERA.

– Pena, 23, could be the key reason why Billy Butler’s club option is not picked up. The Royals plucked Pena out of the Mets organization this past offseason and in his first year at the Triple-A level responded with a breakout season. Pena has cracked 27 home runs at Omaha, nearly doubling his career total in that category, and has thrown out 34 of 86 basestealers, for a solid 39.5 percent ratio. Brett Hayes and Eric Kratz have been stopgaps behind Royals all-star catcher Salvador Perez this season. Next year, with Butler out of the picture, the Royals will be able to give Perez more DH at-bats while having Pena spell him behind the plate.

– Giavotella, 27, has been riding the rail back and forth between Omaha and Kansas City ever since 2011, excelling at Triple-A, disappointing at the big league level. Once again, he brutalized Pacific Coast League pitching to a tune of a .308 batting average, giving him a career mark of .305 in the minors. In 123 games in Kansas City, he owns a .235 mark. His glove is adequate at second base and, with Omar Infante’s various injury woes, Giavotella rates as an insurance policy until the team sees fit to return Christian Colon to the big league club.

– Adams, 24, arrived from NW Arkansas and made his big league debut Monday night as a pinch-runner. He is a wheels guy (38 steals) with moderate pop (25 doubles, 11 home runs). He will spend most of next season at Omaha.

– Peguero, 27, is a hulking, left-handed outfielder the Royals plucked out of the Seattle organization. Like Giavotella, he has developed a reputation as a quadruple-A player, failing to impress in three Seattle auditions since 2011. That said, Peguero’s bat plays host to some serious pop. He cranked a career-best 30 bombs at Omaha this season, giving him 167 for his minor league career. If he can bring just a little of that threat to the plate for the power-starved Royals, it’s a net gain. His presence also promises a steep decline in plate appearances for left-handed punch-and-judy hitter Nori Aoki, the Royals’ disappointing offseason acquisition from Milwaukee.

– Gore, 23, promises to be the most exciting of the Royals’ call-ups. He’s a one-tool player, but that one tool is elite. ESPN analyst Keith Law recently tweeted Gore’s speed tool rates an 80 on the 20-80 scale and while he can’t hit a lick (.215 at Wilmington, .250 in a tiny Omaha sample size), he can steal bases like nobody’s business. His 47 swipes in 54 attempts this season despite a .221 overall batting average hints at someone who could steal 80 with a league-average on-base percentage. He likely will see action every time the Royals get one of their slow-footed sluggers (Butler, Perez, Moustakas) aboard in late innings.

Down the line, look for the Royals to add Colon, recall reliever Aaron Crow and possibly call up pitchers Aaron Brooks, Liam Hendriks and John Lamb.