Kansas City Royals

Royals assign Burns, O'Brien, Alexander to Omaha

Published Mar. 27, 2017 3:35 p.m. ET

The Kansas City Royals made several roster moves Monday, the most notable being the optioning of outfielders Billy Burns and Peter O'Brien and left-hander Scott Alexander to Triple-A Omaha.

The Royals acquired Burns, 27, from Oakland for outfielder Brett Eibner at the trade deadline last July. He spent most of the last two months of the season with the club but saw limited action (.243 average and three stolen bases in 37 at-bats). He was batting .220 in 41 Cactus League at-bats.

O'Brien, 26, was leading the Royals with seven home runs and 14 RBIs in spring training. Alexander, 27, had a 1.93 ERA with seven strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings this spring. He and O'Brien have both had brief call-ups with the Royals each of the last two seasons.

The Royals also reassigned six players to minor league camp: catcher Zane Evans, infielder Humberto Arteaga and pitchers Al Alburquerque, Yender Caramo, Malcom Culver and Eric Stout.

The moves leave the Royals with 29 players (three non-roster invitees) in major league camp, not including left-hander Brian Flynn, who is on the 60-day disabled list.