Imagining a 2022 KC Royals pitching staff

Following the KC Royals first pick in the 2020 Major League Amateur Draft the potential for having the most feared staff in baseball is a reality.

Not to put the cart before the horse, but the KC Royals may be building a pitching staff that could dominate the American League.  Asa Lacy surprisingly was still around when the team drafted with the fourth overall selection Wednesday night.  He joins what was already a diamond mine of hurlers waiting to make a splash in the big leagues.

In fact, in order to best utilize the wealth of talent, some may need to switch to bullpen roles as the abundance of starters creates a potential log jam unless trades are made.  While you can get a premium for young pitching, Kansas City should not make deals unless they are blown away.

Even the most recent KC Royals playoff teams lacked young, home-grown pitching talent save for Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy.  An odd mix of veterans like Chris Young, Jeremy Guthrie, Edinson Volquez, and Johnny Cueto tended to be the anchors of the team.

The opportunity to have all five starters who were recent draft picks is exciting and should send shivers down the spine of American League Central opponents.

Even though the Royals are still in the early stages of their rebuilding effort, having so many top-level starting pitchers coming up through the minors could make them competitive sooner than expected in an American League Central in a state of flux. –currently.att.yahoo.com

Some of these players will join the Royals before others but here is how 2022 could look:

It could be a waste of starting pitching, but it could also be a lights-out KC Royals bullpen.

Relievers:

Daniel Lynch could easily be part of the rotation as well, with no disrespect meant by placing him in this role.  With a quiver full of arrows, someone has to be the odd man out.  You could interchange him with Bubic possibly or even run with a six-man rotation on occasion to keep arms fresh.  Putting him in a multi-inning setup role would handcuff many teams.

One player who had an off-year in 2019 is Carlos Hernandez, but the team is very confident he will regain his touch.  At 6’4″ but only 175 pounds, a lighter workload might be the best use of his talent.  He will be a strikeout machine and bringing him in to strand runners by missing bats would help kill many rallies.

Brad Keller has been a pleasant surprise as a Rule 5 starter but once the young arms come up, a bullpen role is best suited for him.  He could even emerge as the eighth inning option to get the game to the closer.

Another lefthander who could give the Royals an option to get southpaws out is Austin Cox.  He put together a fine year last season with the two Single-A clubs.  Mixing up his fastball and highly regarded curveball would play well in short spurts.

Closing out games should be Tyler Zuber.  The guy not only had an amazing minor league season with a 1.79 ERA with 21 saves between two stops, but he also struck out 68 in 55 1/3 frames and his WHIP was a ridiculous 0.90.  He topped that off playing in the Caribbean League and posted a 1.80 ERA in 17 games only walking two in 15 innings.  He was another possible addition to the big league club coming out of spring.

Save for Ian Kennedy and Tim Hill, the bullpen committed many felonies to Royals fans in 2019.  Locking down three exceptional relievers who could bring back the HGH days would be a great idea.

The big question is will the KC Royals allow these guys to come up together and learn to win and lose as a team.

The anchor of the 2014-2015 World Series teams was that many of them came up on the same teams together through the minor leagues.  They won titles together and then struggled initially in their call up to the big leagues.

After taking home four championships in the minors last year the groundwork appears to be there to repeat that blueprint.  It should be imperative that these young stars are allowed to come to the roster soon even if they get knocked around a bit.

Take advantage of Salvador Perez catching games while we still can, he can provide invaluable insight into how to pitch to players and calm their nerves.  How much longer he will be able to provide this service is unknown due to injuries and Father Time.

It is not as if the starting pitching currently taking up space has provided much hope in the near or long-range future.  The sooner the next generation of pitchers gets the nerves of pitching in major league stadiums against stars they may have grown up idolizing out of the way, the better.

Expecting all of these young guns to occupy a roster spot until we see how they progress over the next year is a dream.  Injuries, trades, and management decisions will affect the decision-making as well.  It is also not a stretch of the imagination they all could play a big role with Kansas City in 2020.  The pitchers are coming — and they are here to take over.