The Kansas City Royals designated outfielder Drew Waters for assignment on Wednesday, ending a major-league stay that lasted one day.
Kansas City selected Waters’ contract from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday as rosters expanded to 28 players. He did not appear in Tuesday’s game.
On Wednesday the club needed the roster spot to activate second baseman Michael Massey from the seven-day concussion list, so Waters was DFA’d.
It is the second time this season the Royals have designated the 27-year-old. In late March, Waters was DFA’d after failing to make the Opening Day roster. Out of options, he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Omaha, where he spent the entire 2026 season until this week.
Waters is a former second-round pick. Atlanta selected him 41st overall in the 2017 draft out of Etowah High School in Georgia and signed him away from a University of Georgia commitment.
He rose to become one of the Braves’ top prospects and a consensus top-100 name from 2019 to 2021, known as a switch-hitting center fielder with speed and defensive tools.
His bat stalled against Triple-A pitching, and in July 2022 Atlanta traded him, along with two other minor leaguers, to Kansas City for the 35th overall pick in that year’s draft.
He debuted with the Royals that August and has appeared in 208 big-league games over four seasons. The career line is .234/.300/.369 with 14 home runs, 65 RBI and 21 stolen bases.
Strikeouts have been a persistent issue, at roughly 31 percent in the majors. In 2025 he hit .243/.288/.316 in 71 games with Kansas City.
This year at Omaha, he posted a .251/.312/.420 slash with 12 homers and 17 steals in 98 games—useful power-speed numbers that still graded below average in a high-offense International League environment.
Waters can play all three outfield spots and has been a serviceable defender in the corners, if unspectacular in center. That profile has never been enough to lock down a regular role.
The Royals now have seven days to trade him or run him through waivers. Because he has already been outrighted once, if he clears waivers again he can reject another assignment to Omaha and become a free agent.
For a player once viewed as a building-block athlete, the latest DFA is another reminder of how quickly prospect status can fade when the bat does not develop. Kansas City will look for a claim or a quiet return to the minors. Waters will look for one more chance to stick.
