KC Royals: Singer stares down major league opponents in start

One of the KC Royals top pitching prospects made his second appearance in Wednesday’s game and he looked like he was ready for the majors.

The KC Royals spent Wednesday as a split-squad, seeing both the Cubs and the Whitesox. While many likely looked for updates on both games, a lot of eyes were on the game against the Cubs, as Royals pitching prospect Brady Singer took the start.

Singer looked good in his first outing of the spring on Sunday when he pitched one inning with no runs and 2 strikeouts. With rumors and a possibility that he could see some time in the majors during the 2020 season, many want to see just how he can perform.

Luckily, he did exactly what was expected in Wednesday’s game and managed to pitch 2 scoreless innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out 2. Though, he didn’t face just anyone.

In Singer’s first inning, he faced the good average and homerun hitting abilities of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Baez. These few batters are likely some of the best Singer had seen up to this point, pitching in AA in 2019.

He handled them without issue, though. Quickly wrapping up the bottom of the first, Singer pitched two into ground outs to the shortstop, and the final into a groundout to third. It wasn’t long though before he was back on the mound.

To start the second inning, Singer looked a bit shaky. He gave up a single to Jason Heyward, followed by two more singles to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Singer showed why he is looked at as such a high prospect and with promise for the future of the Royals pitching staff.

Instead of falling to the pressure, Singer dug himself out of the hole he had put himself in. Pitching with confidence, he struck out the following two batters, one of them being Jason Kipnis, and pitch the other into a groundout.

While the spring training sample size is still small, Singer’s performance is impressive. Typically with spring training, it’s hard to trust early stats as there is a mix of minor league and major league players playing at any given time.

But this time, Singer’s success came against multiple well-known players who have found their own success in the majors.

There have been rumors that Singer could work his way into the 5th rotation spot for the Royals to start the season. It’s still very likely that he will begin the year in the minors, allowing him to develop and refine his skills, but if he continues to perform, he could easily see a call up in the near future.

While it will still be some time until all of the Royals prospects will be ready, so far, the future of the team looks to be bright. Keep following along with spring training to see how the team looks as the regular season draws closer.