Royals add reliever Harvey in trade with Nationals

Trade season is here, and the Royals have moved early and aggressively with a move that they hope bolsters their bullpen for a playoff run in the second half.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Harvey, the Royals designated reliever Nick Anderson for assignment.

TRADE DETAILS
Royals acquire: RHP Hunter Harvey
Nationals acquire: Minor League 3B Cayden Wallace (KC No. 2 prospect); Competitive Balance A pick in the 2024 Draft (No. 39 overall)

Harvey, 29, has appeared in 43 games for the Nationals this season, posting a 4.20 ERA across 45 innings with a 26.3% strikeout rate (50 strikeouts) and just 12 walks for a 6.3% walk rate. He has earned a career-high 26 holds this season, tied with Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero for the Major League lead. Harvey posted a 2.82 ERA last season, recording 10 saves and 19 holds for the Nationals.

Selected in the first round of the 2013 Draft by the Orioles, Harvey made his Major League debut in 2019 and is not a free agent until ‘26.

Wallace, 22, was the Royals’ second-round pick in 2022 out of Arkansas and has been in Double-A Northwest Arkansas this year, although he has missed a good chunk of the season, first with an oblique strain and now a rib fracture, which he suffered while on a rehab assignment for his oblique. He has a career .265/.342/.420 slash line in the Minors with 18 home runs over the last three seasons.

With this move, the Royals made a major change for Day 1 of the MLB Draft, which begins Sunday at 6 p.m. CT. They’ve gone from three picks on Day 1 to two – No. 6 overall in the first round and their second-round pick (No. 41 overall).

This is the second time in three seasons that the Royals have traded a Draft pick; they used a Competitive Balance pick in 2022 to land Drew Waters, CJ Alexander and Andrew Hoffmann from the Braves.