Royals and All-Star 3B Maikel Garcia agree to 5-year contract, AP source says

The deal essentially buys out his arbitration years and potentially his first two years of free agency.

The 25-year-old is coming off a breakout season both in the field, where he won his first Gold Glove playing alongside All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., and at the plate, where he hit .286 with a career-high 16 homers and 74 RBIs.

While the Royals have prioritized landing outfield help in the offseason — they agreed to a $5.25 million deal with Lane Thomas on Thursday — they also wanted to ensure they maintained their franchise cornerstones. That began with re-signing catcher Salvador Perez to a $25 million, two-year contract in November, and it continued by keeping Garcia through at least the 2030 season.

He also is capable of playing shortstop and second base, and Garcia even dabbled with playing in the outfield last season.

By keeping him in the fold, the Royals also solidified what has been one of the better infields in baseball. Witt is coming off a second consecutive All-Star appearance and Gold Glove, Perez is a nine-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove-winner, and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino just had the best season of his four-year big league career, hitting .264 with 32 homers and 113 RBIs.

It also follows a trend of the Royals keeping their own. Each of those four players was signed and developed by Kansas City.

The Royals failed to make the playoffs last season, but they did finish 82-80, the first time they have had consecutive winning years since going to back-to-back World Series in 2014 and '15. And with a talented pitching staff set to return, and young position players on the upswing, there is optimism that Kansas City can get back to the postseason in 2026.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb