Former Florida Gators baseball stars [autotag]Jonathan India[/autotag] and [autotag]Brady Singer[/autotag] swapped teams in a trade between the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals on Friday, MLB’s non-tender deadline.
Both teams could benefit from the trade, according to Keith Law of The Athletic.
India, a middle infielder likely to stay at second base with Kansas City, fell out of favor in Cincinnati thanks to a surplus of talented position players.
He’s a former National League Rookie of the Year drafted fifth overall in 2018 who plays average defense and can get on base more than other infielders on the Royals’ roster. India posted his highest fWAR (2.8) since his rookie year breakout (3.4) and slashed .248/.357/.392 over 151 games.
Singer, the 18th pick in the 2018 draft, has posted steady numbers over hid five-year MLB career. His best season came in 2022 when he finished the season with 3.0 fWAR, a 3.23 ERA and an 8.8 K/9 rate. Similar to India, Singer had his second-best MLB season in 2024 — 2.5 fWAR, 3.71 ERA and a career-high 179 2/3 innings — but Kansas City has a lot of pitching talent in its organization.
With Singer offering the most trade value of any Royal brought up in conversations, it was a no-brainer to deal him at the non-tender deadline, even if it is losing a potential ace who is only 27 years old. The only problem with Singer is that his low arm slot from the right side doesn’t allow him to throw an effective offspeed pitch to attack lefties, who slashed .291/.367/.488 off him in 2024.
India, Singer at Florida
Not only were India and Singer drafted 13 picks apart after spending three years together at Florida and winning a College World Series, they were named the SEC Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively.
Singer also won the 2018 Dick Howser Trophy and was named the National Player of the Year by Baseball Americana and D1Baseball. He left Florida with a 23-10 record over 60 appearances (37 starts, 282 innings), a 3.22 ERA, 281 strikeouts (seventh all time), and four complete games.
India was a consensus First Team All-American at third base for Florida and semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award. He capped off his three-year Gators career with one of the best offensive seasons in program history, slashing .350/.497/.717 with 21 home runs — the most by any Gators third baseman — and 53 RBIs.
Over 194 games (189 starts) as a Gator, India slashed .310/.411/.530 with 31 homers and 126 RBIs. He walked 105 times to 141 strikeouts.
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