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:

The problem for the KC Royals will be a good one soon – how do we make room for all of these starters?

#1 Starter: Singer

Kansas City let Brady Singer take off the 2018 summer after selecting him 18th in the draft.  He responded by going 12-5 with a 2.85 ERA, 138 strikeouts, and a tidy 1.19 WHIP in 26 starts split between Wilmington in Advanced-A and Northwest Arkansas in Double-A ball.  He spent spring training version 1.0 with the major league club and it appeared he would make the team to start the year.  He is ready and Royals fans are ready for him.

#2 Starter: Lacy

A lot of hype is already surrounding this player including talks of him pulling a Brandon Finnegan and pitching in the majors by season’s end – if a season happens this year.  While the talent level is there, we may want to wait and start the clock on his way to possibly becoming a free agent until 2021.  However, if the Royals can somehow compete for a playoff spot in a shortened season, the temptation will be there.

#3 Starter: Bowlan

Jonathan Bowlan had a dominating year split between Lexington and Wilmington.  While an 11-4 record and 3.14 ERA does not appear too flashy, he held his WHIP to 0.99 and batters to a .227 average.  Striking out 150 batters in just 146 innings always plays well to mention.  I see him joining the squad possibly next year but 2022 for sure.

#4 Starter: Bubic

Although the fourth pitcher selected by Kansas City in 2018 he is just as likely to be a star at Kauffman Stadium as the rest of them.  He ate up the minors also splitting up time between the Legends and Blue Rocks.  An 11-5 record, 2.23 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 185 punchouts in 149 1/3 frames were the results.  He also kept batters to a frustrating .211 batting average.

#5 Starter: Kowar

Like Singer, Jackson Kowar spent half of his time in Advanced-A and the other in Double-A.  While his stats were not as gaudy, the tools are there for him to be a major league starter.  His fastball touches 97 and he has a devastating changeup that comes in at 84-86 MPH.  He can also command three other pitches well which will keep hitters on their heels.

The starters were arranged that way to give the KC Royals a nice righty/lefty mixup to give the opposition a different look each night.  We are not done yet either.  There are still plenty of arms we could put in the bullpen to hold leads and close out games.

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.