Royals: 3 pitchers whose stock fell during the 2019 season

In a short season with the Kansas City Royals, this pitcher gave up as many runs as he pitched innings and saw a drop in his confidence on the mound.

Eric Skoglund did not see a lot of time with the Kansas City Royals in 2019. The sample size for his season is relatively small, but there is enough there to work with, and enough of a reason to put him on this list.

Skoglund started the season on an unfortunate note, with an 80 game suspension for PEDs. After rehab assignments with Arkansas and Omaha, and a few recalls and options, Skoglund once again found himself on the mound in Kauffman Stadium.

In 2018, Skoglund played in 14 games for the Royals, starting 13 of those, and pitched to a 5.14 ERA and a 5.06 FIP over 70.0 innings giving up 40 earned runs and striking out 49 batters. Before his suspension, Skoglund looked to be a candidate to fill out the Royals rotation in 2019

When Skoglund finally appeared in a game for the Royals, it looked as though he may get off to a good start. Over 5.0 innings he gave up 2 runs. He was unable to strike out a batter, which caused some concern, but his ability to keep the Royals in the game was important.  Unfortunately, the rest of the season didn’t go as well.

Skoglund looked as though he couldn’t throw strikes, pitching 21 innings to an ERA of 9.00, giving up 21 runs and walking 9 batters. Again, Skoglund’s 2019 sample is not large by any means, but his inability to throw strikes while giving up 21 runs in as many innings is not a good look for someone fighting for a rotation spot.

Its possible fans will see Skoglund in the spring working for a spot on the staff, but after a couple of disappointing seasons, Skoglund’s stock cannot be very high. There is every possibility he will shake off 2019 and get his head on straight, but Skoglund has a long way to go to build his reputation back up.