As the Boston Red Sox have trudged out of the gate this season, with an 8-9 record heading into Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, they have shown one constant problem at the plate: their inability to put the ball in play. The Red Sox are fourth in MLB in most strikeouts per game, with 9.71. That means they fail to put the ball in play for more than one of every three outs they make. Their K rate of 24.8 percent is eighth-highest in MLB, and fourth in the American League.

But their best contact hitter is not with the team. Last season, outfielder Masataka Yoshida’s strikeout rate was only 12.4 percent – exactly half of the team’s so far this year. But Yoshida is now relegated to an extended spring training assignment as he recovers from right shoulder surgery.

Not until after the extended spring will Yoshida begin a minor league rehab assignment. But how hurt is Yoshida, really? He came to to the plate 35 times in spring training for the Red Sox, resulting in 10 hits including a home run and a double. But the Red Sox have said they don’t want him with the big club until his throwing ability is 100 percent.

The Red Sox’s problem with Yoshida, who is owed $55.8 million on the last three years of his five-year, $90 million contract, may actually be that they simply no longer have any place for him on the team. With Rafael Devers taking over the designated hitter slot where Yoshida played 101 of his 108 games last season, he does not fit as a DH any longer.

In the outfield, the Red Sox also have a “no vacancy” sign, with Jarren Duran in left, Ceddanne Rafaela in center and 2024 Gold Glover Wilyer Abreu in right. The Red Sox also have Rob Refsnyder on the bench as a backup outfielder. At the same time, 20-year-old Roman Anthony, Baseball America’s No. 1 overall prospect, continues to hit Triple-A pitching for an .885 OPS and isexpected to get his big league call-up soon. When that happens, Yoshida would be Boston’s sixth outfielder – an extra.

More MLB: Struggling Cardinals All-Star Closer Listed as Trade Candidate for Rangers The solution? Use Yoshida in a trade to address another area of need. For the Red Sox, that is catching. After trading the organization’s prized catching prospect Kyle Teel to the Chicago White Sox in the offseason deal for lefty ace Garret Crochet, the Red Sox need to add depth at the crucial position.

They could find it in Kansas City Royals prospect Blake Mitchell, the team’s 2023 first-round draft pick at eighth overall out of Sinton High School in Texas. The Royals’ No. 2 prospect and No. 45 in baseball per MLB Pipeline, Mitchell is currently sidelined with a broken bone in his hand.

Last year, however, he was named the Royals’ George Brett Hitter of the Year with 18 home runs and an .815 OPS for the Single-A Columbia Fireflies. “Yoshida isn’t perfect but he’d help this team compete. The Royals are set to run their highest payroll since 2017 but they’re $70 million under the first (luxury tax) threshold,” wrote Tim Smart of BoSox Injection, in proposing a Yoshida trade. “Kansas City might be one of the few teams out there that could take on Yoshida’s full contract and truly benefit from his performance.”

The Royals, led by 2024 All-Star and AL MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr., won 86 games and earned a playoff berth last season, bringing postseason play to Kansas City for the first time since 2015, when the Royals won the World Series. But this year, Kansas City has started 8-8 and is getting dangerously little production from outfielders M.J. Melendez (.285 OPS so far), Kyle Isbel (.693) and veteran Hunter Renfroe (.363).

The Royals have another catching prospect in Carter Jensen, ranked No. 3 in their organization, so if they are willing to part with Mitchell, the trade could solve problems for the Red Sox as well as the Kansas City club as both battle to return to postseason play.