Nick Pratto Returns From Injured List Following Setback
Kansas City Royals first baseman Nick Pratto (groin, hip) was activated from the 15-day injured list on Friday. He had been out since July 27 with a left groin strain and left hip impingement. He delivered solid offensive production when healthy, slashing .238/.324/.375 with seven homers, 31 RBI, a 9.7 BB%, and a 37.5 K%. He also owns a 43.4 percent sweet-spot rate that ranks in the 98th percentile. He should operate as Kansas City's primary first baseman for the remainder of the season.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Nick Pratto (groin, hip) sustained a "minor setback" during his minor-league rehab assignment. While it's not clear when it occurred, the 24-year-old has returned to Kansas City for reevaluation on Monday to see where his health is at. Pratto has resided on the 10-day injured list since July 27 with both a left groin strain and left hip impingement syndrome. Amid the former first-rounder's absence, Salvador Perez has been splitting time in his everyday role at catcher and first base, thus providing Freddy Fermin with more backstop duties and Matt Beaty occasional time at the cold corner.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Nick Pratto is absent from Monday's starting lineup against the Cleveland Guardians. This appears to be a routine rest day for the 24-year-old slugger. This season, Pratto is slashing .241/.330/.383 with seven homers, 31 RBI in 68 games. Matt Duffy will start in his place at first base and bat fifth versus left-hander Logan Allen on Monday. Fantasy managers should adjust their lineups accordingly with Pratto out of the lineup.
Kansas City Royals first baseman/outfielder Nick Pratto is out of the starting lineup Thursday versus the Tampa Bay Rays. With Vinnie Pasquantino out for the season, Pratto has, and will continue to, see plenty of playing time at first base but understandably hits the bench against a left-hander in the Rays' Shane McClanahan on Thursday night. It's been a nice season for the 24-year-old who is hitting .276 with four homers and a .783 OPS across 197 trips to the plate, although he's struck in 34% of those plate appearances as well. Interestingly, three of Pratto's four homers this season have come against a left-handed pitcher while he owns a .787 OPS against them in 62 trips to the plate. Matt Duffy will take over at first base and hit sixth Thursday night.
Kansas City Royals first baseman/outfielder Nick Pratto has adjusted well in his sophomore season, slashing .301/.395/.437 with two home runs, 14 runs, 13 RBI, and one steal across 30 games. His play has induced a lineup change, as he's led off five of the club's last seven games. Most of Pratto's value comes in OBP leagues, given his 11.8% walk rate and 12.0% career walk rate in the minors, but the 24-year-old has superb power potential and, with his new spot in the order, will provide fantasy managers will decent counting stats in all leagues.
Kansas City Royals first baseman/outfielder Nick Pratto is hitting cleanup for the first time this season Monday night in San Diego against Padres right-hander Michael Wacha. Pratto started out of the cleanup spot eight times in his MLB debut last season but hasn't hit higher than fifth in the order in 2023. It's been a fantastic start to the 24-year-old's season at the big-league level as he's hitting .350 with two homers, five doubles, and a .968 OPS across 69 trips to the plate. However, Pratto also sports an unsustainable .514 BABIP and an elevated 30.4% K% which both spell regression moving forward. He has a solid opportunity to keep up the good work for at least another night against Wacha who sports a 4.87 SIERA and 5.06 xFIP on the season.
The Kansas City Royals recalled first baseman Nick Pratto from Triple-A Omaha on Friday and optioned catcher Freddy Fermin to Omaha in a corresponding move. Pratto is starting at first base and batting sixth for the Royals in Friday's starting lineup against the Minnesota Twins and right-hander Pablo Lopez. The 24-year-old was slashing just .159/.259/.319 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and eight RBI in 19 games on the farm, so fantasy managers in deeper leagues shouldn't expect much from him offensively in Kansas City. At best, he'll likely see time at the cold corner occasionally when Vinnie Pasquantino needs a day off or is serving as the designated hitter like on Friday.
Kansas City Royals infielder Nick Pratto has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha on Saturday. The team had to make room for Edward Olivares, who was just activated from the 60-day injured list. Pratto mostly struggled when he was up in the majors, slashing .184/.271/.386 with seven home runs and 20 RBI over 158 at-bats. He'll compete for a roster spot with the Royals in spring training but he'll head to the minors to hone his craft for now.
Nick Pratto Called Up Along With Other Royals Prospects
The Kansas City Royals have called up eight players from the minor leagues to take eight of the 10 roster spots that were vacated by the team's unvaccinated players who were placed on the restricted list on Thursday. The Royals stated that they anticipate adding two more players during the team's series against the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend. The most notable call-up is infielder Nick Pratto, who is currently ranked as the team's No. 2 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline. This is Pratto's first call-up to the majors. The 23-year-old has hit 17 homers at Triple-A this year while slashing .240/.374/.484. The other most notable call-ups include left-handed pitcher Angel Zerpa, second baseman Michael Massey and shortstop Maikel Garcia.
The Kansas City Royals made a number of moves to cut down the team's roster on Monday. Most notably, the team optioned catcher MJ Melendez and infielder Nick Pratto to Triple-A. Melendez is ranked as the team's No. 2 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline while Pratto is ranked right behind him at No. 3. Both players have a good shot at making their MLB debuts this year, but we now know they won't be part of the Opening Day roster. One potentially significant development from these roster moves is that the league's No. 1 overall prospect Bobby Witt Jr. remains with the big league club. There will certainly be more moves to follow, but it's a good sign for Witt that he's made it past this round of cuts.
