September is the right moment for the Royals to see what they have in Gavin Cross.
Kansas City is already building around Bobby Witt Jr., while Maikel Garcia has landed a long-term deal, Carter Jensen is putting together an incredible rookie season, and Noah Cameron is carving out a place in the starting rotation. Even with that core taking shape, there are still gaps to address, especially in the outfield.
That’s where Cross comes in. The former first-round pick has finally started to put things together at Triple-A, and the Royals need to find out whether he can be part of the answer.
Cross was taken ninth overall in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Virginia Tech. He tore through Low-A in a 26-game sample after being drafted, then jumped straight to High-A in 2023.
That move exposed some growing pains. He spent 2024 at Double-A, repeated there in 2025, and has spent all of 2026 at Triple-A Omaha.
The numbers this year are encouraging. In 107 games, the 25-year-old is hitting .256/.319/.459/.778 with 17 doubles, five triples, 17 home runs, and 52 RBIs. There’s still swing-and-miss in the profile - his strikeout rate sits at 29.7, and his walk rate is only 7.3 - but the production has been real.
Cross also opened the season slowly. By the end of April, he was hitting .100 with a .346 OPS.
He steadied himself in May and June, batting .264 with a .724 OPS, though he only managed 10 extra-base hits over those two months. Then July arrived, and his season changed.
Since July 1, Cross has been scorching. Even with a brief IL stint in August, he’s hitting .329 with a 1.069 OPS in that stretch. He has walked just nine times during that run, but the power has been loud: four home runs in his last six games.
The upside was never in doubt. In 2023, Cross was viewed as a top-100 prospect across baseball.
Consistency, though, has slowed his climb, and major outlets no longer rank him among the Royals’ top 30 prospects. That makes this stretch even more important, because Cross is Rule 5 draft eligible this offseason if he isn’t added to the 40-man roster.
With the Royals out of playoff contention, the last month should be about 2027 and beyond. Cross has earned the chance to show whether he can be one of the club’s long-term outfield pieces, and September is the time to find out.
In Other News...
Royals Fans May Need To Rethink Bobby Witt Jr's Ceiling
Bobby Witt Jr. has already built a rsum that would look impressive almost anywhere, and for the Royals it has helped define the post-rebuild core. Over five major league seasons, he has piled up 33.2 WAR, a total that ranks fourth across the sport since 2021 and first among Kansas City players in that span, a reminder of how quickly he has become the franchises most valuable position player.
Still, the bigger question around Witt is less about how good he is than how high the offensive ceiling really goes from here. His recent seasons have trended down a bit in power and batting average from the peak he reached in 2024, which now looks more like an outlier than a permanent offensive baseline. The Royals can count on a consistently very good hitter and an excellent shortstop, but the evidence points to a star whose value may come more from steady excellence than from being a truly game-changing force at the plate. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Injury Report Brings 3 Sidelined Players Closer To Action
The Royals got a small boost in their injury picture before the series finale against the Diamondbacks, with three sidelined players moving closer to game action. James McArthur is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, while Maikel Garcia and Connor Seabold are slated to start theirs with Triple-A Omaha.
For a club trying to keep its roster moving through the grind of the season, those are the kinds of updates that matter even before anyone returns. Each of the three has been working back from injuries that cut into his time this year, and the next step now is simple enough on paper: get into games, handle the workload, and show the Royals they are nearing a place where reinforcements can actually be considered. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Suddenly Have A Big Maikel Garcia Question Again
Maikel Garcia is finally on the move again, and for the Royals that is a welcome sign after the third baseman went down with a left-hamstring strain. Kansas City announced Garcia will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha, a step that suggests his return is getting closer and gives the club a chance to gauge how he handles game action before plugging him back into the everyday mix.
The rehab updates did not stop there, either. Right-hander James McArthur is set to start his own assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas after dealing with multiple surgeries and elbow inflammation, while right-hander Connor Seabold will also head to Omaha to begin a rehab stint. For a Royals team trying to piece together its roster in the short term, Garcias status is the one that matters most, even if the next step still leaves a little room for questions. [Read more 🡒]