MRI reveals Renfroe does not have fractured toe

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals had to dip into their depth on Tuesday when they placed outfielder Hunter Renfroe on the 10-day injured list with a left big toe fracture. Renfroe sustained that fracture Monday night when he fouled two balls off his left foot during a 12-pitch at-bat against Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, leaving the game two innings later.

In a corresponding move, the Royals called up switch-hitting outfielder Drew Waters from Triple-A Omaha.

The Royals waited to announce a timeline for Renfroe’s return when he went on the IL because they were awaiting the results of an MRI scan. On Wednesday, they received as good of news as they could have hoped for when dealing with an injury: Renfroe does not have a fracture like the initial X-ray showed.

Instead, Renfroe is dealing with a bone bruise with a stress reaction. A CT scan taken Tuesday showed some doubt that the toe might actually be broken, and the MRI confirmed that nothing had separated.

Renfroe will avoid surgery and the corresponding six- to eight-week timeline. Instead, he could be looking at two to three weeks, depending on his pain tolerance and the length of a rehab assignment if he goes on one.

Renfroe was already playing light catch on Wednesday before the Royals’ game against the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium.

“[Head athletic trainer Kyle Turner] called me in there yesterday after the game, and I was like, ‘This isn’t usually a good sign when I get called into the doctor’s office,’” manager Matt Quatraro said. “But to hear that, I was extremely happy, and I know ‘Froe had a big smile on his face.”

While Renfroe won’t be out nearly as long as initially thought, his IL placement is a still a blow to Kansas City’s lineup given how well he had been hitting lately. The 32-year-old got off to a bad start offensively in his first year with the Royals, slashing just .140/.214/.252 in his first 36 games through May 11.

But Renfroe entered Monday with a nine-game hitting streak that ended when he struck out in his only at-bat. Since May 12, Renfroe is slashing .302/.371/.556 with seven doubles, three homers and 13 RBIs.

“It’s pretty aggravating,” Renfroe said Tuesday. “It always seems to happen, for any player really, once you start going good, you start moving around a lot, get on base a lot, all of a sudden, something happens. You pull something, you get hurt, a freak accident happens. It’s one of those things in baseball where it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it’s part of it.”

The Royals badly need production from their outfield, which ranks second worst in baseball entering Tuesday with a .213 average and 78 wRC+, and things were starting to take a turn lately with Renfroe heating up and left fielder MJ Melendez and center fielder Kyle Isbel coming through in big spots over the weekend.

“It hurts [Renfroe], it hurts us, clearly,” Quatraro said. “We want him in there every opportunity, and he was doing what we expected [when] we signed him. He got himself going, dug himself out of that hole and was a huge part of what was going on.”

Now the focus turns to Waters, who had an .834 OPS, seven homers and 14 doubles in Triple-A this season. He was also striking out at a 26.6% clip, but that’s lower than his 31.8% strikeout rate in the Majors last year. The 25-year-old got off to a hot start with Omaha, slashing .330/.442/.550 with 152 wRC+ from March 30 to May 9. He has cooled off in the past month, slashing .216/.265/.409 with 65 wRC+ since May 10, but he got back on track in the past week, when he went 7-for-18 with two homers against Triple-A Memphis.

“This past offseason, I worked on some things, played with my swing, so I saw it kind of click early,” Waters said. “And then [I] started to struggle a little bit. But it was a good struggle, because it allowed me to reset and get back to what I was doing, and it goes to show that the work I did in the offseason, I need to stick with it and do it every day.”

Waters, who can play all three outfield spots, could see the majority of his playing time in right field with Renfroe sidelined. He started in right on Tuesday night and went 0-for-4. The Royals also have Dairon Blanco on their bench, although they like to use him in late-game pinch-running situations. When Adam Frazier returns from the bereavement list -- which will likely be Friday -- he could see more time in the outfield, too.

“I’m just trying to go out there and compete,” Waters said. “Not looking to go out there and make a big statement or do anything out of the ordinary. I’m just looking to go out there and put together good at-bats.”