Royals: Pitchers that could start 30 games in 2020

The Kansas City Royals already have one pitcher that consistently gives them 30 starts, but they hope he can give them consistent wins in the future.

Jakob Junis is likely the least surprising Kansas City Royals player on this list. Junis has had his share of struggles but he has continued to be a pitcher the team can rely on to go out and give them some innings.

To go towards the argument for Junis starting 30 games in 2020, fans should look at both his 2018 and 2019 season. Junis started 30 games in 2018, and 31 in 2019. On a Royals team where pitching seems to constantly be in a state of unknowns, Junis has been one of the few consistent pieces every day.

Junis saw some difficulties during the 2019 season, but it is safe to say he will be seen in the rotation again. He ended the season 9-14, with an ERA of 5.24 and an FIP of 4.82. While the numbers aren’t too pretty, his month to month numbers show that he was showing some improvement. In April, Junis saw his ERA hit 6.26 and by August 17th he had it down to 4.78.

While this still isn’t the best ERA in the league by any means, it showed that there had been a season-long progression of getting better and better. Junis, unfortunately, struggled in his last couple appearances, driving his ERA up, but one can only hope he will be ready to go for 2020.

One young pitcher with the Kansas City Royals has been working to increase his innings and may just hit 30 starts in 2020.

Brad Keller is one of the most exciting pitchers in the Kansas City Royals organization. While it is likely that this is a one-sided opinion, it’s should be easy for most to see that Keller is a viable candidate to continue in the rotation for the future.

Keller has pitched in the major leagues for two years with the Royals, after coming to Kansas City through the Rule 5 draft from Arizona. In 2018, Keller was one of the most reliable bullpen arms the Royals had, and when they needed a starter, Keller answered the call.

Keller ended 2018 9-6, with a 3.08 ERA over 140.1 innings. While Keller did see an unfortunate increase in his ERA in 2019 (4.19), he also saw his workload increase, pitching 165.1 innings and starting 28 games.

Keller was able to keep his ERA under 3.00 through most of April, but his struggle with walks early in the season caused him to quickly jump up to a 4.07 by the end of the month. He continued to bounce around above and below 4.00 before finally settling at his 4.19.

It’s likely that Keller had some bad luck this year, but there were also some noticeable control issues. Keller did provide constant starts, though, and was able to consistently pitch to 100 plus pitches. It would be the first season with 30 starts for Keller, but the young starter isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

If he can keep the injuries away, Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy may be able to finally put together a full season for the team.

Danny Duffy has unfortunately struggled with injuries during the past couple of seasons, making it difficult to really predict how he will do in 2020, and how many games he might start. In looking at previous seasons, though, Duffy seems like a candidate to “possibly” start 30 games.

Of course, if Duffy is going to have such a large presence for the Royals in 2020, he will need to do one major thing. Stay healthy. Duffy started the 2019 season on the injured list. He was finally able to make it back to the rotation at the end of April but found himself on the list again in August for a few weeks.

As far as his numbers look, Duffy did improve on his 2018 season, though he was also in 5 fewer games. He ended 2019 with an ERA of 4.34 over 130.2 innings and had his first winning record (7-6) since 2016.

Duffy had his share of the struggles, but he continued to improve over the season and returned from the injured list in September to pitch to a 2-0 record with a  monthly ERA of 2.37 over 30.1 innings.

Duffy has always seemed to struggle with consistency, but the injuries year after year don’t help. If he can stay healthy and continue to progress and show the success he showed at the end of 2019, Duffy could easily show up for 30 starts in 2020 and be a big part of the rotation.

After coming back to the Kansas City Royals, Mike Montgomery hopes to prove he is supposed to be in a starting role.

Mike Montgomery (uniform number 21), not to be confused with Jeff Montgomery (uniform number 21), found his way back to the Kansas City Royals in 2019. Montgomery was originally drafted by the Royals in 2008 but was traded and made his way to a few other teams, finally coming back to Kansas City through a trade with the Chicago Cubs.

It’s a stretch to put Montgomery on this list, but there is a chance that if he can prove he deserves a spot in the rotation, he could hit the 30 game mark. Montgomery was being used as a reliever in Chicago. He had seen time as a starting pitcher in years past but typically flipped back and forth between the rotation and bullpen.

Having been vocal about wanting to start, the Royals gave him a chance. In 13 games with the Royals, he held a 4.64 ERA, went 2-7, and pitched 64 innings with 51 strikeouts. While his ERA is a bit high, he did manage to increase all of his numbers from those he carried in Chicago as a reliever.

It’s possible that Monty will find himself back in the bullpen, but with the way his numbers trend when he is in the starting role, the Royals will likely give him another shot in the rotation. If he can continue to produce, it’s entirely possible he could hit 30 starts for the Royals in 2020.

It’s likely that all of the pitchers listed will be pitching with the Royals in 2020, but for some of them, the role they play could be a different story. Depending on what the organization does during free agency will determine who gets to start, and who moves to the bullpen.