Kansas City Royals’ Jarrod Dyson is on the verge of a special and rare milestone

At some point in the coming week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny will gather the team together in the clubhouse and deliver some important news about one of their teammates.

This is the kind of news Matheny loves to deliver.

Outfielder Jarrod Dyson will reach an important milestone in his big-league career: 10 years of service time.

To the average baseball fan, that may seem to be no more than a round number, but for people in Major League Baseball, it’s a significant accomplishment.

“That’s huge,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “I mean, every player that you draft, every player that you sign, every player that makes it to the major leagues, you want them, you desire them, to get those 10 years. ...

“It’s big and we pay attention to it, especially the guys that we’ve drafted and signed. I mean we know exactly how much service time they need to get to that 10-year mark. That’s not necessarily obviously why they play but we want to do everything that we can to make sure they reach that goal, It’s a big deal, it’s special company.”

Statistical superheroes

How remarkable is it for a player to play 10 seasons in the big leagues?

The MLB players union wrote in a tweet: “Players who reach 10 years of major-league service time are statistical superheroes: Fewer than 10% in baseball history have played for a decade or more.”

Dyson, 36, fits into an even smaller subset of players to reach the 10-year mark. He was the Royals’ 50th round pick in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. In Royals’ franchise history only one other player drafted in the 50th round or later has played a decade in the big leagues: Jeff Conine.

The Royals used their 57th-round pick in the 1987 draft to select Conine, who played just 130 of his 2,024 career games with Kansas City.

Dyson, who was draft pick number 1,475 in 2006, made his major-league debut four years later.

After helping the Royals to a pair of American League pennants and the 2015 World Series championship, Dyson was traded to the Mariners following the 2016 season. He went on to play for the Diamondbacks, Pirates and White Sox.

In April, the Royals brought back Dyson on a one-year contract and he’s played more than half of his career games with KC.

“Not too many guys who are 50th-round picks see 10 years let alone five in the big leagues,” Dyson said. “It’s been a grind for me. I enjoyed every moment of it, wouldn’t change a thing about it.”

’Free money’

Every player who reaches 10 seasons in the major leagues receives a full MLB pension. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that players who start drawing the pension at age 45 receive $68,000 a year for life. A sliding scale goes up to $220,000 for those who wait until they are 62.

Bally Sports Kansas City broadcaster Rex Hudler who played 10 seasons in the majors said if he should die, his wife will then receive the pension.

“It’s been a nice supplemental income that comes in once a month in a check,” Hudler said. “It’s really worth working hard for because I call it free money, although I worked my butt off for it. It’s free money. It comes in once a month and you can count on that.”

Dyson will be the second Royals player to reach the decade mark this season, following pitcher Mike Minor. Left-hander Danny Duffy and catcher Salvador Perez also will get to 10 years this summer. Former Royals Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer reached the mark earlier this year.

“It’s a minor miracle to play in the major leagues, a lot has to go right, let alone to play for 10 years,” Moore said. “It’s a very special accomplishment that probably doesn’t get enough attention.”

Matheny and veterans in the Royals clubhouse will make sure Dyson is recognized when his big day comes. There are no records for how many players drafted in the 50th round or later have made it to the 10-year mark.

But it’s clear that Dyson won’t be joining a big group.

“I’m definitely going to enjoy the milestone for me, getting 10 years,” Dyson said. “Not many big leaguers get 10 years in this game. For me being a 50th-round draft pick and to get 10 years is a blessing.”