Apr 03, 2026
3 min read
KANSAS CITY - The Royals waived Carter Jensen about an hour before Thursday's game against the Twins, and instead of catcher Salvador Perez, Perez was named the designated hitter after Wednesday night's marathon game. reason
KANSAS CITY – The Royals changed their lineup about an hour before their game against the Twins on Thursday, catching catcher Carter Jensen and catcher Salvador Perez replacing him.Perez is scheduled to be the designated hitter after a marathon game on Wednesday night.
The reason for the scratch wasn't because of Jensen's injury, which was obvious when he threw warmup pitches early in the game and then caught them in the ninth inning.
Jensen - the Royals' top prospect - overslept and didn't arrive at Kauffman Stadium with enough time to prepare for the game, especially the one he caught.
"Carter made an oversight," coach Matt Quatraro said."I overslept. I didn't show up on time and we decided to cut him from the lineup. ... He's a man of integrity, a very hard worker, a great kid. He feels bad. He's responsible for it. It's not a pattern or anything like that. No one feels worse than he does, and I think he'll admit that. We'll move forward."
Indeed, Jensen owned up to his mistake after the 5-1 loss to the Twins, ready to talk in his locker when reporters entered the clubhouse.
"It didn't work out," Jensen said."I didn't wake up. I didn't wake up. He was sleeping. There was no reason, I didn't need it. It hurt. It happened. I felt like I let my teammates down, the coaches.
Jensen said he woke up in a "total panic" and tried to get on the field as quickly as possible.That's when he knew he wasn't going to start.The Royals had to turn to Perez to prepare with starter Cole Ragans.
When the Royals were finally able to contact Jensen and find out he was on his way to the field, the situation turned into a learning moment for the 22-year-old rookie.
"You have a 36-year-old catcher scheduled to DH today and then he goes an hour and a half before the game he's not DH-ing," Pasquantino said."Thanks to Salvy today for being ready, first and foremost. We're glad Carter's OK, right? It's the first thought when you're trying to push his parents and everything."like that.But when you realize it's okay, it's like, 'Okay, it's time to grow up.'
"He's really young. There's some things that can't happen and this is one of them. He's got to wear it on the chin, the same way everyone else has. It can't happen. And hopefully it won't happen again. But it's one of those things where you can't afford to make mistakes like that in this game. I know going to his favorite field, I know he's going to run on his favorite field."Morning, but it was not to our liking, trying to learn from it.
It certainly isn’t the first time an alarm has been slept through, but Jensen now knows to set more than a few alarms the next time he has to get up early for a day game.
"There's a lot to learn from this. If I don't set one alarm, I can set three, four, as many as possible," Jensen said."Going ahead, that's what I'm going to do. Set a million alarms. Make sure I'm standing. But it stinks."
