KC Royals bring up their No. 3 prospect ahead of Tuesday’s game against Orioles

One of the Royals’ top prospects will be added to the team’s roster ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles at Kauffman Stadium.

Infielder Nicky Lopez was placed on the 10-day injured list following appendicitis surgery in Minnesota, so the Royals called up infielder Maikel Garcia from Triple-A Omaha.

Garcia, an infielder, is the franchise’s No. 3 prospect, according to MLB.com.

“Defensively he’s always been a pretty special player,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “So just thinking in the vein of, ‘How do we improve on the margins?’ (It’s) an unfortunate situation with Nicky, going through what he’s going through, but defensively I think (Garcia) can help us.

“From an offensive standpoint he was having a solid month of April when you look at some of the things that we value the most. His swing decisions have been good. Results probably don’t speak for what we think the swing decisions indicate, but all around he’s done a nice job.”

In 24 games for the Storm Chasers, Garcia batted .242 with 16 walks and 22 strikeouts. He had seven doubles and a home run.

Garcia, 23, made his big-league debut last July. In nine games with the Royals, he hit .318 with a double and two RBIs.

Royals manager Matt Quataro put Garcia in the starting lineup. He’s batting eighth and playing third base in Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles at Kauffman Stadium.

Quatraro also shared a tentative plan for Lopez’s return.

“He’ll see a doctor early next week as a followup to make sure he’s OK,” Quatraro said. “You know, make sure everything’s healing the way it should. Hopefully, if everything goes well, about two weeks ‘til he can play in some rehab games, and then we’ll see how that goes.“

The Royals also optioned outfielder Framil Reyes to Omaha and recalled catcher Freddy Fermin.

Rehab assignments

The Royals announced rehab assignments for starting pitcher Daniel Lynch and outfielder Drew Waters.

Waters, who has been out because of a left oblique strain since February, was set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Omaha. However, Quatraro said Waters had a small setback unrelated to his oblique and will start play with the Storm Chasers later this week.

The Royals had planned on Waters being their center fielder this season, but the spring injury derailed those plans.

Waters batted .240 with five home runs, six doubles and 18 RBIs in 32 games a year ago after coming over in a trade with the Atlanta Braves. The Royals sent a draft pick to the Braves for Waters and minor-leaguers Andrew Hoffmann and CJ Alexander.

MLB rules say position players can spend a maximum of 20 days in a rehab assignment, so Waters should return to the Royals later this month.

Lynch, who has been out because of a strained left shoulder, will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He was injured late in spring training while pitching in a Cactus League game.

A year ago, Lynch made 27 starts for the Royals. He had a 4-13 record with a 5.13 ERA. Lynch, who was drafted by the Royals with the 34th overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, struck out 122 batters in 131 2/3 innings pitched.

Pitchers can spend 30 days on a rehab assignment.