Royals Fantasy Report: Recovering Mike Minor Touches 96 MPH

Royals rehabbing starter Mike Minor touched 96 mph and sat at 93 mph in a throwing session held Tuesday, according to MLB.com beat writer Jeffrey Flanagan:

Mike Minor is a former celebrated prospect who realized expectations with an outstanding 13-9, 3.21 ERA season in 2013 in which he pitched 204.2 innings with a solid 8.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. However, the former Atlanta Braves lefty collapsed to 6-12, 4.77 ERA in 2014 and missed the 2015 season due to shoulder surgery.

KC Royals general manager Dayton Moore signed Minor just before spring training to a two-year, $7.24 million contract and assigned him to extended spring training in Surprise with hopes that he could help the big club by June.

If Flanagan’s report is accurate, Minor is now throwing harder than in his breakout season in 2013, in which the lefty’s fourseam fastball sat around 91 mph. Yet, we have already seen Chien-Ming Wang‘s fastball fall short of his early velocity reports from Surprise this spring.

This hopeful news makes Minor a good gamble for a cheap add for your bench. He can likely be had in most leagues as a $1 dollar waiver claim.

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While Mike Minor will likely see his first major league action this season from the bullpen, he could easily make his way into the Kansas City rotation by mid-season. With two-time Tommy John survivor Kris Medlen and 37-year-old Chris Young (who has shown a pattern of wearing down the last two seasons) holding down the no. 4 and no. 5 spots in the Kansas City Royals rotation, I’d be very surprised if Minor doesn’t get a chance to seize a rotation job sometime during 2016.

One big advantage that Minor has in finding his way into the Royals rotation is that Kansas City currently lacks a lefty starter—which makes the KC Royals unable to exploit lefty-heavy lineups vulnerable to southpaws.

If Mike Minor comes back, he will be a particularly attractive mid-season fill in for many fantasy rosters given that he will be playing in front of an elite defense and will enjoy support from a top bullpen. However, Minor will not be nearly as valuable in leagues that value quality starts over wins, since Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost is likely use a limited pitch count with Minor due to the Royals four-headed bullpen monster.

Next: Strikeout Bump Could Be (Maybe) Legit

The bottom line is that the KC Royals boast even more potential rotation depth with Mike Minor’s recent workout results. KC’s chances to repeat have just received another bump.