KANSAS CITY -- Right-hander Matt Harvey could be inching closer to working into the Royals’ plans for 2020.

Harvey, signed to a Minor League deal late last month, will throw in an intrasquad game again on Thursday at the team’s alternate training site at T-Bones Stadium.

And after that, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said the organization will re-examine the need to possibly use him on the 28-man roster sometime during the next homestand, which starts Tuesday against the Reds.

“He’s throwing well,” Moore said. “And he’s a guy who can serve a variety of roles for us. He can be a starter, he can be a long man, he might even be able to help us in the back of the bullpen. We’ll see.

“He can be someone to potentially help us. You can’t have enough depth.”

Harvey, 31, made 12 starts for the Angels last season and was 3-5 with a 7.09 ERA. The former All-Star helped lead the Mets to the World Series in 2015.

Lacy, Hernández now at T-Bones Stadium
The Royals assigned left-hander Asa Lacy and right-hander Carlos Hernández to their 60-man pool this week, and Moore said both have cleared the preliminary COVID-19 tests and reported to T-Bones Stadium.

The Royals had originally felt comfortable having Lacy, the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s MLB Draft and the team’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, continue working out at Texas A&M.

“The situation has changed a little with our [player pool] roster,” Moore said. “We felt it would be good to continue his development here, and that will help going into the fall and into next spring."

Hernández’s situation is a bit different, as he is on the 40-man roster and might be available for use down the stretch if necessary. He is the Royals’ No. 12 prospect.

“He was a guy we thought back in Spring Training who might be able to help us late in the year, or by next season,” Moore said. “He has been working out and throwing in Arizona regularly, and we thought it would be good to get him here and get him stretched out, too.”

Youngsters providing boost
Moore has been extremely pleased with the early development of rookie hurlers Brady Singer, Tyler Zuber and Kris Bubic, and won’t hesitate to promote more young hurlers if the situation calls for it.

“All of those guys have terrific arms,” Moore said. “You start with that. They’re not backing off or backing down from any hitter.

“They’re going right after hitters. They’ve been a big boost for us, and all of them will just continue to get better.”