It wasn't long ago that Kila Ka'aihue seemed like a promising piece of the
Royals' future. But the Hawaiian first baseman doesn't appear to fit into
their long-term plans any more, despite the career minor league on-base
percentage of .390 that has endeared him to the statistically minded. Kansas
City designated the 27-year-old for assignment to create 40-man roster space
for right-handed reliever Kelvin Herrera, according to Bob Dutton of the
Kansas City Star.
Ka'aihue has excelled in ten minor league seasons, posting a career line of
.266/.390/.458 that includes a .272/.379/.433 line this year in his fourth
stint at Triple-A. The 2002 draft pick has had some opportunities against
Major League pitching, but has just a .216/.309/.375 line in 326 MLB plate
appearances.
Though Ka'aihue has admittedly poor stats in the Major Leagues, he also
appears to have been unlucky on balls in play (.242 BABIP). It won't be
surprising if a small market team without a long-term answer at first base
claims Ka'aihue or works out a trade for him (the Rays have an open 40-man
spot; the Pirates don't).
春训很火让他开季就站了皇家的一垒，随着Hosmer在3A的火热以及他自己在MLB的劳赛
很快的皇家就决定拉上Hosmer来取代他，然后Hosmer就用棒子证明Kila再也没机会了
在小联盟总是打得不错，不过已经27岁了
会跟Nelson Cruz一样从个4A人变成大联盟明星选手还是会默默消失呢
1B还在免洗中的球队应该会有兴趣