A pair of Kansas City hurlers have declared minor-league free agency.
The annual major-league free agency frenzy won’t begin until after the World Series, but dozens of minor-league veterans can put themselves on the open market now, provided they were outrighted from their club’s major-league roster this season and have accumulated enough big-league service time. Two such Kansas City Royals pitchers — Jake Brentz and Dan Altavilla — have already declared themselves open to offers from other clubs.
Altavilla reportedly declared free agency earlier this month, and Brentz followed suit a few days ago. Neither player’s decision is surprising, and although they could conceivably re-sign with the Royals, their Kansas City futures don’t seem bright.
Control issues and injuries have hampered Jake Brentz
Unless both sides can agree on a new deal, Brentz’s five-year history with the Royals — the club that picked him up after the Pittsburgh organization released him in 2019 — will end. The two parties have made it work before, with Brentz returning during 2023 spring training after becoming a free agent at the end of the season prior.
But that was then, and this is now.
Issuing too many walks has been the unfortunate hallmark of Brentz’s time with the Royals, and this season was no different. The three batters he walked in his one-inning final appearance at Double-A Northwest Arkansas in early September was just the tip of the iceberg — he walked 35 batters in the 24 innings he worked for the Naturals, and 17 in just six innings at Triple-A Omaha before that.
And those unsightly numbers aren’t outliers. Control problems have long haunted Brentz — his 10-season minor-league BB/9 is an unacceptable 7.50, and his 80-game major-league mark of 6.10 isn’t much better. He walked 10 in 5.1 frames for the Royals this season.
Injury issues have also plagued Brentz. He’s suffered shoulder, left flexor, and elbow problems, underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2022, and suffered a hamstring injury that cut his spring training short and delayed the start of his 2024 season.
In fairness, Brentz has had his good times with the Royals, going 5-2 with a 3.66 ERA and two saves in 72 big league games in 2021. But his has been a troubled tenure, and there seems to be no place remaining for him in a Kansas City bullpen that, despite its late-season and postseason surges this year, still needs work. Don’t expect the organization to bring Brentz back even for minor-league pitching depth.
Kansas City hasn’t worked out well for Dan Altavilla
In moves designed to bolster their beleaguered bullpen, the Royals signed Altavilla last December, and called him up to the majors in June. Altavilla’s time in Kansas City started well with a three-up, three-down inning against the Yankees, but things took a turn just two days later when he gave up five runs in an ill-fated start that lasted just a third of an inning. He only three more times for the club before an oblique strain forced him to the Injured List in late June.
Altavilla didn’t pitch in the majors again. Instead, he spent the rest of the season at Omaha, where in 37 games he went a respectable 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA, but walked a concerning 22 batters in 41 innings. His small sample size 0-1, 14.73 ERA in Kansas City gives him a seven-year big league career record of 8-8, 4.36.
His midseason injury aside, Altavilla really didn’t distinguish himself in the majors or minors in 2024, and his decision to jump so readily into free agency suggests that whether the Royals want him back or not, he’s willing to seek employment elsewhere.
And that’s probably just as well for all concerned — Kansas City’s bullpen teems with right-handers like Altavilla, leaving little room for a reliever who pitched so little for the club. As is the case with Brentz, don’t look for the Royals to re-sign him.
