Royals acquire Hunter Harvey from Nationals

The Royals bolstered their bullpen with the acquisition of the right-hander Hunter Harveyas the Nationals announced Harvey would be heading to KC in exchange for a third baseman Cayden Wallace and the Royals’ Round A pick (39th overall) for competitive balance in the 2024 draft. The Royals also announced the trade, along with the news that the right-hander Nick Anderson was appointed to carry out the task of creating staff space for Harvey.

Today’s 5-0 loss to the Red Sox dropped the Royals to 52-44, and one game behind Boston for the third and final American League wild-card spot. Batting .542 is already an impressive step forward for a team that has lost 106 games in 2023, but Kansas City is clearly looking to bounce back from some recent struggles. The Royals started the season at a blistering 39-26 pace, but have since stumbled to a 13-18 mark in their last 31 games, and relief pitching has been a big reason for that drop.

KC’s bullpen ranks in the bottom third of baseball in most major categories, including 22nd in ERA (4.30). James McArthur The Royals have converted 17 of 21 save opportunities, but they’ve been somewhat unsteady, and the Royals’ relief corps lacks both velocity and strikeout ability. Recent reports have suggested that Kansas City views the bullpen as a top need heading into the trade deadline, even before the Royals’ pressing need to upgrade their outfield.

Harvey and his 97.8 mph fastball provide immediate leverage to the Royals’ bullpen, and Harvey also has above-average strikeout and walk rates over his 45 innings this season as Washington’s reliever. While he has a 4.20 ERA, Harvey’s SIERA is 2.99, as a .325 BABIP has helped make Harvey’s numbers not adequately reflect the quality of his pitching.

Selected 22nd overall by the Orioles in the 2013 draft, Harvey attracted the attention of top-100 prospects before a series of injuries threatened to end his career before it even began. He posted a 3.42 ERA over 23 2/3 innings and 26 appearances for Baltimore during the 2019-21 seasons, but the Giants claimed him off waivers in November 2021, and Harvey then joined Washington on another waiver claim just before the start of the 2022 campaign.

That stint with the Nationals allowed Harvey to establish himself as a solid MLB-caliber arm, even if he went unnoticed during the team’s rebuild. Harvey has a 3.17 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in 145 innings for D.C., working mostly as a setup man but with 10 saves to his name in 2023. Hard contact is a big red flag in Harvey’s arsenal, but he’s done a passable job of preventing that hard contact from translating into home runs. Moving to spacious Kauffman Stadium could further help the 29-year-old Harvey in that regard.

Harvey is earning $2.35 million this season, in his penultimate year of arbitration eligibility, so the Royals also control him through the end of the 2025 campaign. That extra year of control has made Harvey a particularly interesting player to watch ahead of the July 30 deadline, and Harvey is the Nats’ closer. Kyle Finnegan (also controlled through 2025) cracked the top 15 of MLBTR’s recent Top 50 Trade Prospects list. Given that teams typically have to pay a bit more to complete deals before the deadline, that factor, plus Harvey’s extra year of control and perhaps the Royals’ eagerness to quickly fix their bullpen woes, combined to give Washington a pretty sweet return.

The rebuilding Nationals have remained within striking distance of the National League wild-card race, but today’s trade leaves no doubt that the Nats will remain on track as sellers heading into the deadline. That doesn’t mean Washington won’t be looking for players who could help them compete as early as 2025, and Wallace could potentially fall into that category, as he’s currently in his second season in Double-A.

A second-round pick of the Royals in the 2022 draft, Wallace is hitting .282/.350/.427 in 140 plate appearances for Double-A Northwest Arkansas this season, but he’s been slowed by an oblique strain and an ongoing IL stint for a broken rib. Those injuries have slowed his development, but MLB Pipeline still ranks Wallace as the second-best prospect in Kansas City’s farm system, and Baseball America ranked him fifth in its preseason rankings of Royals minor league players. Both scouting reports see him as a good defensive player with the ability to stay at third base due to a strong throwing arm, and Wallace has a good approach at the plate and a solid swing. He has more power potential than obvious power at the moment, so Pipeline and BA see Wallace as a gap hitter with some upside as he develops.

Trading a “third baseman of the future” candidate like Wallace is a confirmation of the Royals’ confidence in Maikel Garcia at least in the short term, though Kansas City could now look for help at hot corner down the road — perhaps as early as tomorrow’s draft. As MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman noted, the Nationals have now given themselves plenty of depth at third base for the future, with the addition of Wallace Brady House (ranked by Pipeline as the 44th best prospect in all of baseball) and Yohandy Morales in the minor league ranks. This could be a potential surplus position for the Nationals in the coming years, if they get back into contention and start moving their own internal prospects for more winning veterans now.

Competitive Balance Round picks are the only type of draft picks that can be traded, and as such are quietly among the most valuable trade chips in all of baseball. Any team can trade CBR picks, but since small-market and lower-revenue teams are the only teams eligible for these bonus picks in the first place, trades involving the picks are relatively rare, given that adding talent through the draft is of particular value to the game’s lower spenders. Still, today’s trade marks the third CBR pick in the 2024 draft to change hands—the Brewers acquired the 34th overall pick from the Orioles in the trade. Corbin Burnes trade, while the White Sox obtained the 68th overall pick (in the B round of the CBR) in the deal that sent Gregory Santos to the Sailors.

The Royals selected the sixth overall pick in tomorrow’s draft and won’t make another pick until their second-round pick (41st overall). The Nationals now have three picks in the top 44, with their new CBR selection sandwiched between their first- and second-round spots.

Anderson joined the Royals in a trade with the Braves last November, with Kansas City looking to see if the former Rays bullpen ace could return to form after three injury-plagued seasons. In 34 2/3 innings for the Royals this season, Anderson had a 4.15 ERA and didn’t have many secondary stats, posting a 10.1% walk rate and an 18.1% strikeout rate.

Anderson is making $1.575 million this season and is arbitration-controlled through 2025, which could add some appeal for any club interested in adding bullpen depth via waiver claim. Anderson is now over the five-year MLB service time threshold due to being on the Royals’ active roster all season, and would therefore retain his full 2024 salary if he clears waivers and becomes a free agent.