Kansas City Royals: Is a Richard Lovelady call-up coming soon?

Richard Lovelady is a talented young player waiting patiently for his opportunity with the Kansas City Royals. His 2018 season is helping make a case for his chance in the Major Leagues.

Richard Lovelady has garnered attention for his name. He also was recently recognized for his performance on the mount, being named to MLB Pipeline’s Team of the Week as a reliever in the Kansas City Royals organization.

What earned him the honor?

Lovelady has allowed just one run in his last 24 innings of work. That’s impressive. On the season, he is now 3-1. He’s tallied five saves and has yielded an ERA of 2.57. In 56 innings of work, Lovelady has earned 50 strikeouts. He has also held batters to an average of .208 at the plate.

With the way he had been performing, it is not at all surprising that he is garnering some league-wide attention. When MLB Pipeline updated all of their top prospect lists a few days ago, Lovelady moved up the list. In the preseason, he sat in the 20 spot. Now, he has moved up to 14.

And with the additions of Brett Phillips, in the 8 spot, as well as Brady Singer (1) and Jackson Kowar (4), the move up the list is all the more impressive.

Is he likely to earn a shot this season?

The answer here is yes. The lefty has a lot of talent, and he’s only 23. Which bodes well for the Kansas City Royals if he can continue to have success in his relief role.

He has a spot on the 40-man. Potentially shortly after the trade deadline, he will get the call. Earlier this season, the Milwaukee Brewers had a revolving door mentality in their bullpen. If the Kansas City Royals are truly committed to completely undergoing a rebuild, this is an option for them.

It would be surprising to see Richard Lovelady not receive at least a short stint with the Kansas City Royals this season, just to see if he can be a nice addition to the bullpen in the years to come.