By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals added three players to their 40 man roster on Tuesday, ahead of the deadline to protect eligible players from the Rule 5 draft.
If Rule 5-eligible players -- those who signed at age 18 or younger five seasons ago or who signed at age 19 or older four seasons ago -- are not added to teams’ 40-man rosters, they are exposed to be taken in the Rule 5 Draft next month.
Left-hander Noah Cameron, ranked the Royals’ No. 12 prospect by MLB Pipeline, and righties Luinder Avila (No. 26) and Eric Cerantola (No. 29) were placed the roster on Tuesday. Kansas City's roster now sits at 37 players, with a few spots open for the offseason upgrades the Royals are trying to make.
Cameron knocked on the door of making his major league debut last season, had the Royals not been in the postseason race late. The left handed pitcher posted a 3.08 ERA across 128.2 innings between Triple A Omaha and Double A Northwest Arkansas.
It was his nine starts in Omaha that were the most impressive, going 3-2 with a 2.32 ERA and striking out 62 batters, a 29% strikeout rate to go with a 5.1% walk rate.
The Royals drafted Cameron in the seventh round in 2021 out of Central Arkansas. He was coming off of Tommy John surgery that year and has missed time with injuries early in his pro career, but he’s been remarkably consistent with his production otherwise. He thrives off his command and fills up the strike zone. He’ll compete for a spot on the Royals’ pitching staff in Spring Training, but he’s part of the depth that the Royals are excited about in 2025.
Avila, whose 23 years old, just finished a stint in the Arizona Fall League, making up for some innings he missed because of injury this past season. In 14 2/3 innings across five games (three starts) this fall, Avila posted a 3.07 ERA, with 17 strikeouts and eight walks.
He spent the majority of ‘24 in Double-A, making just one start in Triple-A at the end of the year. With the Naturals, Avila threw 82 2/3 innings across 19 starts and posted a 3.81 ERA.
Cerantola, 24 years old, has a big arm that can reach 100 mph. He pitched to a 2.97 ERA and had a strikeout percentage north of 31% this year across Double-A and Triple-A, spending the majority of the year in Northwest Arkansas, where he allowed 18 earned runs in 58 1/3 innings.
In Triple-A at the end of the year, he posted a 3.77 ERA. He appeared in 37 games total (seven starts) and is seen as a multi-inning reliever.
At the Rule 5 Draft, teams that do pick a player must pay $100,000 to the club from which the player was selected. The selected player is assigned to the club’s 26-man roster and is essentially treated like a player without options –-- to be removed from the 40-man roster, they must be placed on outright waivers and exposed to other teams to claim.
Should the player clear waivers, he can be offered back to his previous team for $50,000. A Rule 5 Draft pick can be placed on the injured list, but he must be active for a minimum of 90 days to avoid being subject to the aforementioned roster restrictions in the next campaign.
The Royals selected Yankees righty Matt Sauer last December, and he made his debut with Kansas City in 2024. But by May the Royals needed the roster spot, and Sauer went back to New York.
-MLB.com's Anne Rogers contributed to this report
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