Kansas City Royals

Maikel Garcia

3B

Garcia has been battling through a left hand muscle strain that caused him to go on the 10-day injured list in late June. He was cleared to embark on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday, but he was pulled from that assignment after feeling renewed pain in his left hand. Garcia's recovery timeline should become more clear once he is evaluated by a specialist next week.

Stephen Kolek

SP

Kolek emerged out of his rehab start with Triple-A Omaha on July 18 with a right forearm strain, which prompted the Royals to transfer the right-hander to the 60-day injured list July 22. He's eligible to be activated from the IL in early September, but the Royals will have a better sense of Kolek's recovery timeline once he undergoes more tests.

Bobby Witt Jr.

SS

Witt is scheduled for a full workout Saturday, and as long as that goes well, then the star shortstop should be back in action for the Royals for the start of their home series Tuesday. Witt landed on the 10-day IL on July 22 due to back soreness, but with his impending return, both Andrew Velazquez and Tyler Tolbert will see their reps at shortstop dry up. Prior to his injury, Witt was slashing .279/.350/.450 with 30 steals, 13 homer runs and 39 RBI across 414 plate appearances.

Vinnie Pasquantino

1B

Pasquantino was lifted in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 3-2 loss after dealing with soreness in his right hand, the same one he had surgery on in mid-June to address a hamate fracture. Per MLB.com, the Royals planned to evaluate Pasquantino further Wednesday, but it's not yet clear if he'll need to miss more than one start. Salvador Perez will fill in for Pasquantino at first base.

Luinder Avila

SP

Avila kept the Rockies out of the scoring column for two frames, but he was knocked around in the bottom of the third. In that inning, Colorado pounced for six runs on five hits and three walks while Avila was on the mound, with the biggest blow being a Hunter Goodman three-run homer. Avila logged his shortest start since a disastrous outing against Houston on June 12 when he gave up eight runs over two-thirds of an inning. Between that start and Saturday's, the right-hander had posted a tolerable 3.82 ERA over seven appearances, but he also had a shaky 1.36 WHIP and 31:17 K:BB during that span. He'll carry an overall 5.53 ERA into his next start, which is tentatively slated to be a home tilt against the Cubs.