Dairon Blanco #44

Blanco resides in Miami, Fla...Played for three teams in the 2022-23 offseason, beginning with Ponce in the Puerto Rican Winter League, with whom he set the PRWL 50-game season record of 25 stolen bases...Finished with the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Winter League, and helped them claim their 23rd championship...From 2012-15, he played parts of four seasons in the Cuban National Series...He appeared in 318 games and maintained a .301 batting average.

2024

Was one of 10 players who remained on the Royals active roster for the entire season after making his first career Opening Day roster...Established career highs in games played (88), steals (31) and runs (37)...His 31 steals tied for the eighth-most in the American League, trailing leader José Caballero (44)...Since making his MLB debut in 2022, he’s recorded 56 stolen bases in 162 career games, which are the second-most by a Royal through 162 career games, behind only Willie Wilson’s 59 steals from 1976-79...Went 3-for-3 with a walk on May 9 vs. the Angels in Anaheim, where he hit his first home run of the season, swiped a pair of bases and scored a run all four times he was on base, becoming the second Royal in club history to record a home run, two steals and four runs in a game, following Frank White on April 27, 1979...During MLB’s Players’ Weekend on Aug. 17 in Cincinnati, he became the 14th Royal to record at least seven RBI in a game after hitting a two-run HR, his first career grand slam and an RBI single...Using a yellow crayon bat, his seven RBI matched the second-most by a Royal, trailing only Mike Moustakas’ nine RBI on Sept. 12, 2015...Had a career-best six-game hit streak from Aug. 17-26, during which he had nine hits (three HR) and eight RBI, more than doubling the five RBI he had in his first 68 games...Made one appearance during the 2024 postseason, in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series in Baltimore…he pinch ran for Tommy Pham in the eighth inning and stole second base in a one-run game.

2023

Named 2023 Willie Wilson Award winner, which recognizes the top baserunner in the organization…in 118 games between Triple-A Omaha and the Majors, he recorded 71 steals in 118 games and was caught only 11 times, for an 86.6% success rate...Began the season with Triple-A Omaha and hit .347 (60-for-173) with 47 steals in 49 games…at the time of his promotion on June 12, he led Minor League Baseball in steals and set the Storm Chasers single-season steals record... His 24 steals in 69 games with Kansas City tied for 3rd among American League rookies behind Esteury Ruiz (67) and José Caballero (26)... His 30.3 ft/sec. sprint speed ranked fourth in the Majors (min. 10 opp.), behind Elly De La Cruz (30.5), Bobby Witt Jr. (30.5) and Bubba Thompson (30.4)...Was one of 12 American League players to play at least 60 games in the outfield without an error... On July 18 vs. Detroit, he became the first Major League player to record at least two doubles, one triple and one steal in a game since Christian Yelich on July 20, 2018 for Milwaukee, and was only the third Royal to reach those numbers in a game, joining Amos Otis (June 10, 1981) and Frank White (June 3, 1981)...On Aug. 4 in Philadelphia, Blanco went 1-for-3 with a sac. hit, three stolen bases and three RBI, becoming the first player in Royals history to record at least three RBI and three steals in a game, and the first in the Majors since Jose Altuve on Sept. 10, 2013...In the regular season finale on Oct. 1 vs. the Yankees, he became the fourth player this century to record a game with three hits, two steals, one HR and one sac. hit, joining Doug Glanville (Aug. 14, 2000), Alfonso Soriano (July 16, 2006) and Billy Hamilton (June 7, 2016).

2022

Appeared in five games with the Royals, which included his first career hit, run scored, RBI and stolen base from May 20-28...he was outrighted off the roster on June 7...Played in 107 games with Triple-A Omaha and collected 45 stolen bases, second to only Tyler Tolbert (60) among Royals farmhands...Played for three teams in the 2022-23 offseason, beginning with Ponce in the Puerto Rican Winter League, with whom he set the PRWL 50-game season record of 25 stolen bases...finished with the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Winter League and helped them claim their 23rd championship. 

2021

Split the season between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha, where he combined to steal 41 bases while recording 14 home runs and 53 RBI in 117 games...Stole 32 bases in Double-A Northwest Arkansas, the fourth most in the Double-A Central...His 41 stolen bases ranked 12th in all of Minor League Baseball, and second only to Tyler Tolbert (55) among Royals minor leaguers...Made just one error in 116 games (110 starts), finishing with a .996 fielding percentage...Appeared in 37 games for the Tomateros de Culiacán in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, slashing .312/.376/.409 (48-for-154) with 11 extra-base hits and 21 stolen bases.