Top prospect Eric Hosmer will join the Kansas City Royals in time for Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics, and could start at first base. Kila Ka’aihue will be optioned to AAA Omaha, while catcher Jason Kendall will be moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Hosmer on the 40-man roster.

The 21 year old Hosmer was batting .439 (43-for-98) in 26 games for the Storm Chasers and was leading the Pacific Coast League in batting average, hits and on-base percentage. He also had an eight-game hitting streak, batting .613 (19-for-31) with two homers, six RBI and eight walks. His .613 batting average and .692 on-base percentage led all of professional baseball during that span.

The No. 3 pick of the 2008 first-year player draft, Hosmer is the first high school player from his class to reach the big-leagues. It will be a tough Major League debut for the lefty who will go against Gio Gonzalez of the Oakland Athletics, one of the toughest southpaws in the American League. However, in Omaha, Hosmer batted .500 (16-for-32) with all three of his home runs against lefties.

Ka’aihue was batting .195 (16-for-82) with two home runs in 23 games this season for the Royals. He has a .285 batting average with 52 home runs in parts of three seasons in Omaha.