The Royals announced the promotion of Emmanuel Rivera to the big league club while designating Kelvin Gutierrez for assignment. The announcement was rumored via multiple sources since yesterday.
He was drafted in the 19th round of the 2015 draft from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico signing as a shortstop with a projection towards the corners. It’s been a slow development for Rivera after being drafted, taking one step at each level. Along the way, there have been successes with a South Atlantic League batting championship in 2017 at Low-A Lexington.
The following season in Wilmington, Rivera once again put together a decent batting average (.