The arrival of the Kansas City Royals at the Rogers Center in Ontario, Canada for the weekend-long matches against the Toronto Blue Jays will mark the debut of Ben Zobrist. Following his acquisition from the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, the game against the Blue Jays on Thursday will test the hypothesis of the Royals on the advantages brought about by the entrance of Zobrist in their team.
Zobrist's inclusion in the Royals saw the departure of minor league players Sean Manaea and Aaron Brooks, according to ESPN. The report further stated that the former OA pitcher offers a hitting record of .268/.354/.447 along with a total of six home runs throughout 67 games for this season. Ned Yost, the manager of the Kansas MLB team, announced that Zobrist will be a "great" addition to the Royals, citing that the player is a "tremendous switch-hitter."
He further said, "He's a really good run producer from both sides of the batter's box. He can play multiple positions. He gives us a lot of versatility. He's definitely got a winner's mentality." With this in mind, Yost can definitely take advantage of Zobrist's ability to play various spots to secure another World Series run by reducing the possibilities of injuries. Needless to say, having a player with the capacity to play different spots can pave the way for more rotation opportunities which would allow everyone to rest up during matches.
To further bolster the confidence of the Royals, the upcoming match against the Blue Jays will also feature another newly acquired player, Johnny Brent Cueto Ortiz, more simply known as Johnny Cueto, from the Cincinnati Reds.
Cueto is expected to start for the Royals in the match against the Blue Jays this weekend. Sharing that he is "very happy" and "very proud" to be part of the Royals, via ESPN, the former Reds player is already making waves in the team and is now hailed as the group's ace. To acquire Cueto, the Royals opted to send John Lamb and Cody Reed to the Reds. In addition to Zobrist, Yost is eyeing Cueto's abilities to further help the team in terms of rotation.
Meanwhile, Wednesday saw the entrance of Troy Tulowitzki in the Blue Jays clubhouse. While initially shocked at the interest of the Toronto team, the former Colorado Rockies star welcomed the trade with open arms. As the new shortstop of the Blue Jays, Tulowitzki experienced a first with the team during a match against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday as he was designated to lead following the injury suffered by first baseman Edwin Encarnacion on Tuesday.
Although the game against the Phillies marked a number of firsts for Tulowitzki, the five-time all-star did not fail to impress. Wowing the crowd and his team, the former Rockies player hit a home run with three runs batted in. His spectacular performance brought a win for the Blue Jays against the Phillies with a final score of 8 - 2 on Wednesday night. Tulowitzki has a batting average of 299 and .885 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He managed to hit at least 20 home runs eight times throughout his career and is regarded as one of the best offensive shortstop in the league.
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