MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –

KANSAS CITY, MO (Sept. 21, 2007) – The Kansas City Royals have claimed first baseman Wes Bankston off outright waivers from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Bankston will not be reporting to the Major League club. To make room for Bankston on the 40-man roster, the Royals transferred left-handed pitcher Odalis Perez from the 15- to the 60-day disabled list.

Bankston, 23, spent the entire 2007 season with Triple-A Durham in the Rays organization, hitting .238 (93-for-390) with 15 home runs, 59 RBI, 23 doubles and 46 runs scored in 104 games. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound resident of Plano, Texas, was the Devil Rays fourth-round selection in the 2002 draft out of Plano East High. Regularly regarded as one of the top prospects in the Devil Rays organization by Baseball America, the right-handed hitting Bankston was the Rays' Player of the Year during his minor league stops at Rookie-Level Princeton in 2002 and Class A Charleston in 2004.

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