Reds, Royals Complete Trade Involving Brady Singer, Jonathan India

The Royals and Reds made a big move at the non-tender deadline. Kansas City got a quarterback Jonathan India and foreign player Joey Wiemer from Cincinnati starting pitcher Brady Singer. The Royals had space on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary.

Major league veterans are traded between teams hoping to compete for a playoff spot. India and Singer are Florida college quarterbacks who each went in the first round of the 2018 draft. Both players reached the major leagues within a few seasons and have been solid contributors over four years at the MLB level. Each team is under club control for two more seasons.

India started his career with a bang. He won the National League’s Rookie of the Year award in 2021, hitting .269/.376/.459 with 21 homers and 34 doubles while appearing in 150 games. India did not maintain that level in the next three seasons. That’s due to minor injuries, as he missed time with hamstring and foot problems the next two years. He hit .246/.333/.394 with 27 homers in 222 contests in that stretch. That’s average production for a player who spent his home games at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, arguably the league’s friendliest place outside of Coors Field.

He resurfaced to some extent this past season. The Reds are toying with using him in a multi-position role, though Matt McLain’s A Spring Training shoulder injury forced India to return to everyday work at second base. While most of Cincinnati’s infield blew up, India ran a .248/.357/.392 slash and 15 homers in 637 plate appearances. He avoided the injured list and put up his best numbers since his rookie year.

India doesn’t have much home run power. He hasn’t hit 20 homers since his first season. He’s unlikely to get a pop over the fence in open Kauffman Stadium. India has strong gap strength and good strike zone awareness. He’s drawn walks at a league-leading 12.6% clip while keeping his strikeouts to an average 19.6% this year. India has been at the top of Cincinnati’s order for most of his career, a role he will now play in Kansas City.

The Royals got very little in the leadoff spot in 2024. Skipper Matt Quatraro used the third baseman’s gloves Michael Garcia as his first choice. Garcia hit .231 with a paltry .281 slugging percentage over 626 trips to the plate. The Royals have prioritized finding a consistent presence on base that they can plug into the top of the lineup. That would allow the MVP to come second Bobby Witt Jr. and middle bats Salvador Perez again Vinnie Pasquantino coming up with more driving opportunities.

India should go into the standings, although it remains to be seen where they will play. He played all of his nearly 4,000 innings in the majors at second base. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Over Average rank him as the underrated defender in his career. Statcast felt he had improved average glovework this past season, although DRS gave him 10 runs under the category.

All in all, India’s 2024 season was not much better than the output of the second baseman. Michael Massey. The left-handed Massey hit .259/.294/.449 with 14 homers over 356 plate appearances while battling a back injury early in the season. India gets on base consistently, but Massey has the upper hand. They are the most likely center backs to win any Gloves.

Getting India to move Massey to the bench would be a conundrum. The Royals may be looking to jump India around the diamond as the Reds considered last spring. He was Florida’s third baseman in his minor league career as well. The Reds could try him at the hot corner while kicking Garcia into a relief role, though Statcast rated the Indian’s arm strength as middling even at second base levels. (Playing him at third could free up the Royals to shop Garcia to teams who might play him at shortstop.) The Royals could bump India or Massey to the corner, reducing playing time for the underperforming duo. MJ Melendez again Hunter Renfroe.

In any case, it’s clear that the Royals have placed a premium on acquiring a leadoff hitter. They paid a huge price to get him. Teams usually don’t want to break away from the first controlled conflict. Singer is a medium quality arm that rotates. His career 4.28 ERA shows some inconsistency, but he has posted a mark below 4.00 in two of the last three years.

That includes a 3.71 showing over a full slide of 32 starts this year. Singer has pitched a career-best 179 2/3 innings with impressive peripherals. He struck out a respectable 22.3% while getting ground balls at an above-average clip of 47.1%. Singer has been a quality pitcher, and has also kept his walk rate up to a clean 7.1% mark.

The artist’s material is not strong. He is primarily a sinking slider pitcher who sits close to 92 MPH and a hitter. The breaking ball is his best swing-and-miss offering, while the sinker is often played for grounders. Singer never got a changeup to slow left-handed hitters. Lefty hitters hit him at a .261/.342/.442 clip in his career and have a .291/.367/.488 slash this year. Singer dominated opposing righties, though, holding them to a slim .208/.252/.311 line.

The platoon’s problems may reach the top of the Singer rather than the first third or fourth. That’s still a very important player, and Singer’s track record plays a big role in Cincinnati’s injury-riddled rotation this year. You will go in the back Hunter Greene and close Nick Lodolo again Andrew Abbott among workers. High hopes Rhett Lowder can have an internal song in the first part of the fifth, while Nick Martinez returned after accepting a qualifying offer of $21.05MM. Martinez is no stranger to pitching between starts and late inning relief. He may start the season in the bullpen and move into the rotation as injuries arise.

It’s a great gift for Cincinnati, who also had questions about where they would play India. McLain will return after missing last season. With Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, the keystone is his best everyday at-bats. The Reds could have cast India in a utility role between first, second, designated hitter and the available outfield. Earlier the Reds were reluctant to move India, who emerged as a leader in the clubhouse. They’ll need to fill that void in the outfield, but dealing him with a middle-of-the-rotation starter effectively balances the roster.

It’s a similar thought process for the Royals, whose lineup wasn’t deep enough to match the strength of their rotation. Kansas City still has a top three Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and re-signed Michael Wacha. That’s right Alec Marsh he can step into the starting quarterback. That will go away Kyle Wright again Chris Bubic fighting for the first job of the fifth pending foreign acquisition. Wright, who posted a 3.19 ERA over 30 starts for the Braves in 2022, returns after missing the entire 24-season season with shoulder surgery. Bubic rehabbed the ’23 Tommy John routine and returned to work in a relief role last summer. The Stanford product has had a short streak (2.67 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings) and could move back into a starting role.

On paper, Singer looks like a more valuable trade chip than India. That balances out a bit with the inclusion of Wiemer, who will compete for KC’s cornerback spot. A former Brewers’ pick out of the University of Cincinnati, Wiemer emerged as a top prospect thanks to a great combination of speed and power. The long question is whether the 6’4″ outfielder can make enough contact to fit into that.

That has not happened so far. Wiemer, who turns 26 in February, hit .201/.279/.349 with a career-high 28.5% slugging percentage in 438 plate appearances. Milwaukee moved on a right-handed hitter last summer, and traded him to the Reds for several months. Frankie Montas. Wiemer owned a .242/.387/.358 line in Triple-A at the time of that trade, but finished the year with a miserable .190/.280/.229 showing in 118 plate appearances for Cincinnati’s top affiliate. That understandably wasn’t enough to warrant an extended look in the majors. Wiemer only took one at-bat in a Reds uniform.

Wiemer has one option year remaining and comes with at least five seasons of club control. He could be a long-term piece if he hits his stride in his mid-20s, but he’ll need to make a leap forward in his communication skills for that to happen.

Trading is close to a financial wash. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz made Singer an $8.8MM salary in his first season of arbitration. That could jump to $12-14MM by the 2026 range. India will make $7.05MM next year and will be in contention again next season. Wiemer will play around the league minimum for at least two more seasons. Depending on Singer’s final arbitration price, the Reds add about $2MM to their payroll.

UC. Trent Rosecrans and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last week that the Royals and Reds had discussed the India/Singer draft. Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the Royals were acquiring Wiemer.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.