The Royals have designated Jeff Francoeur for assignment.

By designating the struggling Francoeur for assignment, the Royals cleared more playing time for David Lough and Jarrod Dyson.

"We wanted to get another infield bat up here, and Johnny Giavotella has been swinging the bat very well at Omaha and, obviously, with Dyson coming back and the way that David Lough played there wasn't much opportunity for Jeff to get in there as much as I think he needs to be in order to be effective," Dayton Moore said.