Royals Rookie Carter Jensen Benched After Sleeping Through Alarm

Royals rookie Carter Jensen has learned the hard way in the big leagues … the alarm clock is undefeated.

The 22-year-old backstop was a late scratch for the Kansas City Royals just before their matchup with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday -- and not because of injury, but because he straight-up slept through his alarm.

Manager Matt Quatraro kept it real postgame, saying Jensen “overslept” and didn’t make it to the ballpark in time to properly prep ... a big no-no, especially for a catcher expected to handle the pitching staff.

Instead, veteran Salvador Perez had to ditch his planned DH day and jump behind the plate on short notice … with starting pitcher Cole Ragans counting on him.

Jensen eventually showed up -- in what he described as a “full panic” -- and even got into the game late … but by then, the damage was done, both on the lineup card and the scoreboard in a 5-1 loss.

To his credit, the rookie owned it.

“No running from it,” Jensen said ... admitting he flat-out missed his alarm and had zero excuses … adding he felt like he let his teammates and coaches down.

His Royals teammates didn’t bury him, but they didn’t sugarcoat it either -- calling it a “growing moment” and making it clear that can’t happen in the big leagues.

"It's a growing moment," teammate Vinnie Pasquantino said. "He's really young. There are some things that cannot happen, and that's one of them."

"He's going to have to wear it on the chin the same way anybody would have to."

The Minnesota Twins didn’t let the moment pass quietly … their social media team jumped in with a sly jab ahead of their home opener, posting a reminder for fans to set their alarms -- and after a 5-1 win, you can bet they were feeling wide awake while getting the last laugh.

Lesson learned? It seems so, because Jensen says he’s going nuclear with alarms moving forward -- talking “three, four, as many as possible” to make sure this never happens again.