Kansas City Royals DVOA, Stats, & MLB Rankings

The Kansas City Royals recalled right-hander Jonathan Bowlan from Triple-A Omaha and optioned right-hander Will Klein to Omaha in a corresponding move on Monday. Bowland will be making his 2024 debut with Kansas City to start in the series opener on Monday against the Blue Jays in Toronto. This will be the 27-year-old's second career start after he made his big-league debut in 2023, going 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, no walks and three strikeouts in just three innings pitched. Bowlan will help cover the rotation spot of Alec Marsh (elbow) for at least this turn through KC's rotation. In his 21 innings at Omaha this year, he has posted a 2.57 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with five walks and 21 strikeouts. Fantasy managers should consider him an extremely shaky streaming option in Toronto.

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith went 4-for-5 in Friday's 12-2 victory over the Blue Jays, with two of his four hits going for extra bases, including a double and his second home run of the season. The 2023 All-Star also drove in three runs and scored three times. This was the second straight game Smith has recorded four hits, raising his season slash line to .376/.413/.527 and putting himself in position as the third-highest-scoring backstop for fantasy thus far. The Dodgers face Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi on Saturday night. Smith is hitting a scorching .520/.581/.680 against lefties so far this season and is 1-for-3 off Kikuchi in his career.

Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia hit two singles, drew a walk, drove in two runs and scored a run in the Royals' 8-0 win on Friday. Garcia now has multiple hits in four of his last seven games, a good sign after going through a bit of a slump over the past couple weeks. The 24-year-old is now hitting for a .651 OPS and has 18 RBI on the season. If Garcia is able to avoid another major slump, then he may be someone fantasy managers want to keep on their radar as an option to stash on their bench. Garcia will get matchups against Casey Mize on Saturday and Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on Sunday.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. notched three RBI in the Royals 8-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon. Witt Jr. went 1-4 with a two RBI triple and an RBI sacrifice fly. He also scored a run in the Royals' seven-run ninth. The 23-year-old now has 14 RBI on the season with a .915 OPS and leads the league in triples with four. As a top option in fantasy baseball, Witt Jr. is delivering for fantasy managers who took him in the first round. Witt Jr. faces Casey Mize on Saturday and will have a tough matchup against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on Sunday.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo continued his stellar work on the mound during Friday's game against the Detroit Tigers. The right-hander threw seven shutout innings while striking out nine batters in the win. Lugo only gave up three singles during this game and a pair of walks. He holds a 1.66 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and a 23/9 K/BB ratio across six starts. He'll look to continue his strong campaign against the Toronto Blue Jays next week.