{"id":96536,"date":"2025-02-27T20:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=96536"},"modified":"2025-02-27T20:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:35:20","slug":"royals-cavan-biggio-making-statement-early-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/27\/royals-cavan-biggio-making-statement-early-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals Non-Roster Invitee Cavan Biggio Making Noise Early in Spring Training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biggica01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cavan Biggio<\/a><\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is making a statement early in camp. After signing a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals this offseason, <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/12\/cavan-biggio-blue-jays-dodgers-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Biggio<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is 3-for-7 at the plate with one home run and has an OPS of over 1.500. It&#8217;s a minimal sample size, but if we&#8217;re talking about players that have stood out very early in spring training, we have to talk about <a  href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/cavan-biggio-624415?stats=statcast-r-fielding-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Biggio<\/a>. If his success continues, it wouldn&#8217;t hurt if the Royals put him on the Opening Day Roster, but he&#8217;d have to blow the team away with his performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">When I spoke to Cavan Biggio two weeks ago, he said that you have to be ready for anything when you\u2019re a utility guy.<\/p>\n<p>Well, in three games he\u2019s played three positions.<\/p>\n<p>That versatility can go a long way in Kansas City. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Royals<\/a><\/p>\n<p>YouTube: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BhWH7WKv2X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/BhWH7WKv2X<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lL3YvM69mo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lL3YvM69mo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=johnsja03,johnsja04,johnso028jac,johnso025jac&amp;search=Jack+Johnson&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Johnson<\/a> (@JohnyJ_15) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnyJ_15\/status\/1894917756841030027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Cavan Biggio Yet to Capitalize on MLB Opportunities<\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yes, Cavan is the son of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biggicr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Biggio<\/a>. Originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016, he made his MLB debut in 2019. <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/09\/06\/why-cavan-biggio-deserves-more-recognition\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Biggio<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> has had a big fall from grace since his first two years in MLB, where he looked like he <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was going to<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> be a part of a Blue Jays core for a long time. After 2020, however, his numbers were bench player-like. Besides hitting 16 home runs in 100 games in 2019, the power hasn&#8217;t been there for him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/sports\/mlb\/super-utility-mlb-vets-harold-castro-cavan-biggio-hope-to-bring-versatility-to-royals\/ar-AA1zAy3O?ocid=BingNewsSerp\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Biggio<\/a> has never been a particularly great fielder, except in <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">2022<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> when he had a solid OAA of 7. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0He split time with the Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves in 2024. His 0.1 wins above replacement was barely above replacement level and he was 22 percent below league average offensively last season. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">His past success could be a factor in deciding if he makes the team, but <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">it seems like there are<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> better options in-house.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Biggio&#8217;s Glove Gives Him His Best Shot<\/h3>\n<p>If Biggio has any chance of making the Royals&#8217; roster, it&#8217;ll be because he had an OAA of 7 in 2022. Some MLB teams look at what players did at an elite level in the past and see if they can get back to that. A 7 OAA is very solid, so obviously Biggio has some defensive skills. The Royals could utilize him as a utility player, and that could be beneficial for them this season. Injuries are going to happen, and teams are always looking for depth.<\/p>\n<p>At 29, Biggio should be doing whatever he can to stay on an MLB roster. It would be smart to show what he can do at camp and then do whatever the Royals ask of him. As of right now, his offensive output is nice to see, but it&#8217;s safe not to put too much stock into it.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest stories of Royals camp so far has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/i\/indiajo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan India<\/a> playing left field. If he plays left field and struggles, Biggio could be a guy who can play outfield if need be. Then the question would become where India would play in the field, because he is going to play consistently for the Royals this season, no matter what. All of this talk is reaching into the future, and it&#8217;ll be up to Biggio to earn his spot. If he can get back to his 2022 defensive numbers, the Royals might have a reliable player here.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cavan Biggio is making a statement early in camp. After signing a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals this offseason, Biggio is 3-for-7 at the plate with one home run and has an OPS of over 1.500. It&#8217;s a minimal sample size, but if we&#8217;re talking about players that have stood out very [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5319,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1071],"tags":[2640,2005],"class_list":["post-96536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-royals","category-mlb","tag-cavan-biggio","tag-jonathan-india"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96536"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96548,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96536\/revisions\/96548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}