Royals won't cut minor leaguers: 'We needed to stand behind them'

The Kansas City Royals are one of several teams that will pay their minor-league players for the balance of the 2020 season whether or not Minor League Baseball returns. But they're also taking an additional step to ensure their players have some security.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore confirmed Friday that the team won't release any minor-league players during the coronavirus stoppage.

Moore said the Royals made the decision because their minor-league players "have as much impact on the growth of our game" as the organization's big-league veterans.

"(Minor-league players) have as much opportunity to influence the growth of our game as those individuals who played for a long time because those individuals go back into their communities and teach the game, work in academies, are JUCO (junior college) coaches, college coaches, scouts, coaches in pro baseball," Moore told reporters during a conference call, according to Alec Lewis of The Athletic.

"They're growing the game constantly because they're so passionate about it. So we felt it was really, really important not to release one minor-league player during this time, a time we needed to stand behind them."

Moore confirmed the decision one day after several teams began releasing hundreds of minor leaguers who are not on 40-man rosters.

Seven other teams besides the Royals have reportedly committed to paying their MiLB players a $400-per-week stipend until at least the end of August. That amount was agreed to when the hiatus began in March. One team, the Oakland Athletics, will stop paying its minor leaguers after May 31.

Moore has been the Royals' general manager since 2006 and built their 2015 World Series-winning team.