Royals send Maikel Garcia to Triple-A Omaha

The Kansas City Royals optioned infielder Maikel Garcia to Triple-A Omaha on Thursday.

What It Means:

The Royals sent Garcia down to clear space for Hunter Dozier to return from the paternity list. Nicky Lopez will start at shortstop and hit ninth in Thursday's series opener against right-hander Luis Patino and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Lopez has a $2,200 salary on Thursday and numberFire’s models project him for 7.1 FanDuel points. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Royals’ implied total (3.25) is third-lowest on Thursday's Main slate out of 10 teams.