KC roots add motivation, not pressure, for Royals prospect Jensen

MESA, Ariz. -- The “local kid done good” plot is an age-old storyline that everyone loves. But it can be easier said than done, with the expectations coming with it being too much for a young player to shoulder.

Carter Jensen doesn’t seem to mind it so much. A Kansas City native who grew up rooting for the team that selected him in the third round of the 2021 Draft, the Royals' No. 5 prospect isn’t immune to the added hometown kid spotlight, but he’s letting it fuel him more than weigh him down.

“It’s not as much pressure, it’s excitement,” Jensen said. “It makes me want to work harder, especially when I’m at those games. How the organization is going right now, people filling the stands. It’s a lot of fun being there. I feel a little bit of pressure, but overall I try not to think about that too much. I try to focus on the end goal, just trying to make it there and contribute the best I can.”

It’s not difficult to envision him contributing at Kauffman Stadium in the future after nights like he had on Tuesday in the Arizona Fall League. Serving as the designated hitter for the Surprise Saguaros, the 21-year-old catcher went 5-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. The homer came when he led off the fifth, taking a first-pitch fastball from A’s prospect Wander Guante out to center field.

“I had faced him before, I think it was last week,” Jensen said. “I knew my zone, knew what pitches he threw, everything was moving away from me that he threw. I’m looking on the inside half of the plate for something to come back over the middle. First pitch, I saw it starting on the inside half and I was able to know I needed to fire away at that. I tried to put a good swing on it and a good thing happened from it.”

The only thing missing was a triple to give him a cycle, but he’s not feeling greedy, even if he was very aware that’s what he needed when he singled in his final at-bat of the night.

“I knew, and everybody was telling me,” Jensen said. “If I hit a ball down the line or in the gap, I might as well. It’s not a close game, so I might as well try. I don’t think I’ve ever hit for the cycle, so it would have been pretty cool, but I’m happy with what I did tonight.”

He was far from alone. The Saguaros pounded out 20 hits while beating the Mesa Solar Sox, 14-4. Jensen wasn’t even the only player with five hits. Rangers' No. 16 prospect Alejandro Osuna joined him by also going 5-for-6 with a homer and a double. It wasn’t an “anything you can do, I can do better” kind of thing, but they were definitely feeding off each other.

“It wasn’t as much keeping tabs or competing, it was more we were happy for each other,” Jensen said. “That’s my guy. I just got the opportunity to meet him. I met him a little playing against him, with our Spring Training complexes being together. We were just having fun with it, coming back in, high fiving. It was a lot of fun.”

It’s hard not to have fun when you’re swinging the bat like Jensen is. He’s now hitting .393 with a 1.371 OPS over seven games, and he’d be second in the Fall League in the latter category if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

It’s a continuation of how he finished off his 2024 season, a campaign that saw him reach Double-A for the first time. He earned a promotion up from High-A Quad Cities in late July after posting an OPS of .821 and throwing out 30 percent of potential basestealers. Things didn’t go as well at first, as he hit .188/.245/.353 in August. But then he got rolling, with a 1.068 OPS over 12 games in September, the kind of stretch that makes a player not want things to end. So the AFL is exactly what he wanted.

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“In Double-A, I struggled a little bit and then ended really strong,” Jensen said. “I wasn’t really ready to be done. When they asked me to come to the Fall League, it was a no-brainer yes. I’m glad I get to be here. It’s not only for reps and experience, I get to meet a bunch of new coaches, new players from different organizations, pick their brains about stuff. It makes everybody better overall.”