The Royals challenged 22-year-old pitching prospect Christian Binford, a precocious right-hander, with his minor-league assignment to start this season. They sent him to Class AAA Omaha, where he had spent some time as a reliever near the end of 2014 after posting sterling results as a starter at Class A and Class AA.
Things did not go well. Binford went 1-4 with a 5.86 ERA in his first six starts. The team elected to transfer him back to Class AA Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday. Binford made eight starts at this level last season.
The club promoted left-hander Jonathon Dziedzic and right-hander Andy Ferguson to Omaha from Northwest Arkansas.