Three Things Royals Fans Should Pay Attention to With Dairon Blanco

After a winless road trip in Miami and Baltimore, the Royals return to Kauffman Stadium on Monday for a weeklong homestand that includes games against the surging Reds and Angels.

On Monday, the Royals organization made a big move by promoting Dairon Blanco from Omaha and designating Jackie Bradley, Jr. for assignment to make room for Blanco on the 40-man roster.

Blanco has been one of the Storm Chasers’ most dynamic players this season, as he has stolen 47 bases in 49 games played. However, as Royals broadcaster Jake Eisenberg noted, Blanco has done more than just swipe bases in Triple-A in 2023.

Blanco just turned 30 on April 26th, so he’s not necessarily a “prospect” in the traditional sense. Furthermore, this isn’t his first MLB stint, as he had coffee with the Royals in 2022.

He played in five games last season in late May (posting a .286/.286/.286 slash in seven plate appearances) before getting designated for assignment and eventually returning to Omaha in early June.

Despite being Rule 5 eligible over the last couple of seasons, Blanco has stayed in the Royals organization and has had his best season yet on an offensive end in 2023. With the Royals needing right-handed production in the outfield, JJ Picollo opting to call up Blanco and add him to the 40-man roster made sense in various ways.

Blanco will be making his 2023 debut against Cincinnati starting pitcher Luke Weaver (a former Royal who was traded for Emmanuel Rivera last season), and he will be batting in the nine-hole while playing left field tonight as well.

The Royals are 18-47, and while Blanco’s speed brings a certain level of intrigue to this roster, he is far from the solution to all the Royals’ problems this season.

Nonetheless, seeing a player like Blanco get another opportunity with the big league club is exciting, especially during an evaluation season where wins may be few and far between. Hopefully, this time around, Blanco will get more than just five games to show what he is capable of at the Major League level.

In this post, let’s take a look at three things Royals fans should pay attention to in Blanco’s tenure with the Royals this season, regardless of how long it may be.

Blanco’s Baserunning Is Pretty Special (And a Much-Needed Asset)

There’s no question that Blanco’s stolen-base number sticks out this year (and the fact that he’s only been caught six times to boot). Here’s a compilation of most of his stolen bases this year, and it’s incredible how he’s been able to swipe second and third base often and with ease this season in the International League.

However, this isn’t a new development for Blanco, as he has shown an ability to swipe bags in the Minors before 2023.

Last season, Blanco stole 45 bags in 107 games in Omaha. In 2021, he stole 32 bags in 79 games in Double-A Northwest Arkansas, in addition to nine bases in 32 games with the Storm Chasers. Lastly, before he was acquired by Kansas City in the Jake Diekman trade with the Athletics, Blanco stole 19 bases in 78 games with the Double-A Midland Rock Hounds.

The Royals rank 10th in baserunning runs above average with a 1.7 mark, according to Fangraphs. With Blanco coming off the bench in a utility outfield role, Kansas City should improve in that category, which could have a positive impact in the win column going forward.

Blanco’s An Older Prospect (But For Good Reason)

Blanco’s age could be a deterrent to a lot of Royals fans having too high of hopes for Blanco and his outlook in Kansas City.

However, he’s been on fire at the plate in 49 games this year with the Storm Chasers. He’s not only shown better batted-ball skills, as evidenced by his .347 average in 208 plate appearances but also improved plate discipline as well (0.63 BB/K ratio, a career-high)

Blanco was born and raised in Cuba and performed well with Camaguey in the Cuban National Series from 2012-2015 (with a short stint with Industriales in 2014-2015 as well). As with most Cuban-born talents, Blanco defected from Cuba so he could play professional baseball in the United States.

Unfortunately, after defecting from Cuba in 2016, it took Blanco nearly two years in the defection process to sign with a team, which ended up being the Oakland Athletics.

Joe Stiglich of NBC Sports Bay Area talked about the A’s signing Blanco in 2018 after keeping tabs on him in the Dominican Republic for a while. It’s unclear why Blanco was unable to sign an MLB contract over those two years, but Oakland’s patience with Blanco was a big reason why he signed with the club for an affordable amount.

Oakland had been scouting Dairon Blanco extensively for the past year or so after he defected from Cuba and settled in the Dominican Republic. He officially signed with the club Monday.

Blanco, who turns 25 next month, spent four seasons playing in Cuba’s top professional league, Serie Nacional. It’s been nearly two years now since he’s played competitively, so Blanco figures to require considerable time in the minors.

But his speed grades out at 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale, the highest grade possible, and he’ll instantly become one of the fastest players in the A’s organization.

“We’re thrilled,” said A’s assistant general manager Dan Feinstein, who heads up the team’s international scouting. “He’s been in the Dominican a while now, and we’ve been watching him. The first thing the jumped out to all of us is just how athletic he is. How fast he is. He’s a true ’80’ runner.”

“Cuban signee Dairon Blanco will be one of fastest players in A’s organization” by Joe Stiglich; NBC Sports Bay Area.

It’s too bad that immigration issues held Blanco from making his Stateside debut sooner. One has to wonder what his profile would look like had he been able to transition immediately after defecting, much like other more high-profile Cuban players (such as Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert of the White Sox).

Nonetheless, in terms of his “baseball age”, he profiles more like a 27-year-old than a 30-year-old, due to his lost two years in the Dominican Republic, and lost Minor League season due to COVID in 2020.

Can Blanco Help the Royals’ Outfield Defense?

The Royals’ outfield defense has been one of the worst in baseball this season, and that’s putting it lightly.

The Royals rank 24th in outfield OAA in 2023, and actually rank 29th in OAA in the month of June, specifically, according to Savant. While the Royals needed to DFA Bradley, Jr. in order to make room for Blanco (and JBJ’s bat wasn’t holding weight either), the outfield loses its best defender on an OAA basis this season, which can be seen in the table below:

Kyle Isbel has been solid with a +1 OAA and runs prevented total so far this year, but he’s been out for almost a month due to a hamstring injury and his timetable to return to play is unclear.

As for the other outfielders, Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez have shown their growing pains adjusting to new positions this season, and Edward Olivares has been frankly awful on both an OAA and runs prevented end this season.

Thankfully, Blanco should be able to help out the Royals’ outfield defense, especially in centerfireld, where Waters has shown mixed results so far (0 OAA and runs prevented).

Last season, Blanco was worth +1 OAA and generated an 11 percent success rate added despite seeing limited time in Kansas City.

Below is a look at his box plot OAA data on catches Blanco made via Savant from a season ago (scroll right for starting position; left for finishing position).

As Royals fans can see, Blanco showed solid range in centerfield, which is much-needed in Kauffman Stadium’s spacious grounds.

While Blanco is starting tonight in LF, don’t be surprised if Blanco also sees some time in CF in his time in Kansas City. As a result, the Royals should benefit as a collective outfield group.

Waters could see more time in LF (which will put less pressure on him defensively) and Olivares will primarily be the DH, which is the better fit anyways. Pratto will naturally see more time at first base with Vinnie Pasquantino on the 10-Day IL due to a shoulder issue.

Granted, the Cuban-born outfielder will need to hit to stay in the starting lineup in Kansas City.

That said, his glove should be a major asset to a Royals defense that needs more consistency in the outfield, especially as Waters and Melendez continue to adjust.

Photo Credit: USA Today/Sports Illustrated

8 thoughts on “Three Things Royals Fans Should Pay Attention to With Dairon Blanco”

  1. Mr. O’B. should Blanco disappoint as have (thus far), MJ, Witt, Singer, Kowar, Lynch, Watters and on and bloody on, I think I will tear the rest of my hair out. It’s almost like there is a curse on this franchise.

  4. It is pretty clear that Olivares is a poor outfielder. Slow judgment to the ball. Very tentative about calling for the ball and he seems to scare other defenders. Just not good fielding instincts overall. This makes him marginal for the Royals. Has a decent bat but is prone to slumps. Just does not seem the brightest of players out there IMHO. Would love him to be better than he is…

    1. Same here. Had some high hopes for him after strong performances in small stints in ’21 and ’22. However, his defense has not progressed, and as you said, he’s too streaky offensively and is either crushing the ball or slumping and looking lost. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s gone by the Trade Deadline, either via a trade or DFA.

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