KANSAS CITY, MO (December 1, 2020) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that they have signed left-handed pitcher Mike Minor to a two-year Major League contract with a club option for the 2023 season. Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In a corresponding roster move, the Royals have designated right-handed pitcher Carlos Sanabria for assignment.
Minor, 32, split the 2020 season between Texas and Oakland, going 1-6 with a 5.56 ERA (35 ER in 56.2 IP) and 62 strikeouts (9.85 K/9) in 11 combined starts (12 appearances). His victory was a two-hit, 7.0-inning shutout at Seattle on Sept. 14 in the second game of a doubleheader, his second shutout in as many seasons. He also made three scoreless appearances (3.2 IP) for Oakland in the American League Division Series vs. Houston, after being traded to the A’s on Aug. 31.
A nine-year Major League veteran, Minor spent the previous two seasons (2018-19) with Texas, after pitching for the Royals in 2017. He was an All-Star in 2019, when he set career highs in wins (14), innings (208.1) and strikeouts (200), and matched a career high with 32 starts. The lefty also posted a 3.59 ERA (83 ER in 208.1 IP) in 2019, which ranked sixth in the AL, while his strikeout total ranked 10th. In his lone Major League season with Kansas City, he went 6-6 with a 2.55 ERA (22 ER in 77.2 IP) in 65 relief appearances, which included going 6-for-6 in save opportunities. He signed a two-year contract with the Royals on Feb. 19, 2016 and spent the entire 2016 campaign on the Injured List, after suffering a torn labrum prior to the 2015 regular season. Minor’s first five Major League seasons (2010-14) were with Atlanta, where he posted a 38-36 mark with a 4.10 ERA in 110 starts (111 appearances). He was originally selected by the Braves in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University.
A native of Chapel Hill, Tenn., Minor and his wife, Kristen, reside in Knoxville, Ten., with daughters, Stella, Ava and Josie.
