Brandon Drury, part of Blue Jays’ forgettable J.A. Happ trade return, cut by Royals

Former Toronto Blue Jays' slugger Brandon Drury is looking for a new team. The 34-year-old may have hit another new low after the Kansas City Royals released him from the organization on Monday (Sept. 7) amid a lost season.

For Blue Jays fans, Drury will forever been known for being part of the infamous underwhelming trade package that they received from the New York Yankees along with Billy McKinney in exchange for a prime J.A. Happ at the time in 2018. In a time of rebuild for the Blue Jays, the hope was to get some younger players with upside that could help for a few years as Toronto moved into the Vladdy-Bo era.

Instead, McKinney would flame out as a prospect after a couple of years with the Blue Jays and Drury would provide mixed results, at-best during his Toronto tenure. The utilityman would compile a .208 average, .606 OPS, together with 49 runs scored, 15 home runs and 45 RBIs in 149 games played over three seasons with Toronto, although one of those seasons was the COVID shortened 2020 campaign. In the end, Drury never really factored into the Blue Jays’ resurgence.

Life in the majors has been a mixed bag for Brandon Drury since leaving the Blue Jays

Nevertheless, Drury would actually rediscover some of his success in the subsequent years following his departure from Toronto after 2020. In fact, Drury even captured a Louisville Silver Slugger Award in 2022, registering 28 home runs and 87 RBIs with an .813 OPS split between the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres.

After one more productive year with the Los Angeles Angels in 2023, the decline of Drury would begin in 2024. Still with the Angels that season, he slashed .169/.242/.228 with just 28 runs scored, seven doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs in 97 games.

The following year would be even worse, as Drury would spend the entire 2025 in the minors split between the Angels and Chicago White Sox organizations. He would hit a measly .214 with 26 runs scored, three home runs and 17 RBIs in just 53 total games of action.

Drury would sign a minor league contract with the Royals for the 2026 season hoping to resurrect his career and regain a roster spot in the majors. Unfortunately, he would once again spend all of his time in the minors, where he batted .241 with 30 runs scored, six home runs and 35 RBIs in 60 total games. Those numbers were at least slight improvements from his previous years, but they were still not enough to impress the Kansas City brass, leading to his recent release.

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