The Billy Burns era begins.
The Royals have promoted outfielder Billy Burns and optioned pitcher Brooks Pounders to AAA Omaha. Burns was acquired last week from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for outfielder Brett Eibner. He had played just two games for Omaha, going 1-for-5 with four strikeouts. Burns, a switch-hitter, was hitting .234/.270/.303 with 0 HR 12 RBI and 14 steals in 17 attempts in 73 games for Oakland this year. He enjoyed a much better rookie season in 2015, hitting .294/.334/.392 with 26 steals and 2.8 rWAR.
The 26-year old Burns is a speedster and joins an outfield that already has Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Paulo Orlando, and Jarrod Dyson.