Who is the Starter for the KC Royals on Sunday against the Indians?

With the KC Royals determining the first two starters of the season, many questions arose when Jeffrey Flanagan tweeted that “Mike Matheny said he wasn’t sure yet who will start Sunday in Cleveland.”

This is a little bit odd to not have a starter set for the first series of the season, but the KC Royals are probably still determining the rotation as two starters, Jakob Junis and Brad Keller, are on the IL. The Royals have not set a definitive rotation quite yet as they have only announced that Danny Duffy and Brady Singer are the starters for game one and two.

The original thought was that Mike Montgomery would be Sunday’s starter, but as Mike Matheny explained in the tweet linked above there is some uncertainty on who starts Sunday. With summer camp coming to a close, the Royals need to determine who starts this Sunday against the Indians.

The uncertainty is a problem as there are very few starting pitchers for the Royals that are not the top prospects, outside of Singer. The two other main starters are Glenn Sparkman and Jesse Hahn.

With this uncertainty comes a couple of options for the Royals to employ if they cannot decide who starts for them. For one, they could start either of the two pitchers mentioned above, have a bullpen day, use an opener, or just use Mike Montgomery as planned.

With these options let’s go in-depth on what will probably happen come Sunday.

1. Start either Glenn Sparkman, Jesse Hahn, Mike Montgomery, or even Stephen Woods Jr.

This is probably the best option for the KC Royals as these three are mainly used as starters in their respective careers. The best of the three would be Glenn Sparkman as he has the most experienced in recent years, as Jesse Hahn has been hurt and Stephen Woods Jr. is our rule 5 draft pick.

The case for Jesse Hahn is not terribly strong, but a couple of things that could help is that he is fresh and is ready to prove to people that he is back and better than ever. For Stephen Woods Jr. the case is a whole lot stronger as for one, we have to use him as he is a rule 5 pick, he is also relatively fresh, along with the fact that he was dominant in the minors which compares to Brad Keller.

The last option for this also happens to be the initial starter Mike Montgomery. The reason I add him here is the fact that no reporter has stated that Montgomery was injured or had tested positive for COVID-19.

3. Use an opener for the Sunday game against the Indians.

This is an interesting option as it is a blend of both strategies stated in the previous slides. For one the opener could be anyone in the bullpen, but it would most likely someone who is either better in low-stress situations or could get a couple quick outs or innings. A couple of players come to mind for being the opener.

For one, Jorge Lopez is, in my opinion, set for this role as he has the stuff and makeup to be in the bullpen but has not been very strong during the past few years. The reason I think he could be the opener is the fact that he has experience, as he was a starter for a couple of years and starting a game should be easy for him.

Some other options would be someone like Tyler Zuber, Scott Barlow, or even Trevor Rosenthal for the opener spot. Along with this the player who “starts” would be someone like Glenn Sparkman, Mike Montgomery, or Stephen Woods Jr.

With these options, I would expect the best one to be having Glen Sparkman start if Montgomery cannot as he has been in the rotation for a year now and has proven to get some good outings.