KC Royals: It’s a slingshot! It’s a cannon! Nope, it’s Josh Staumont

The KC Royals have seen their share of struggles in 2020, but their pitching has been surprisingly decent, especially a young flame thrower.

The KC Royals 2020 season is likely not starting out as many hoped, though, it could be how many expected. Kansas City has found themselves in an early losing streak, falling to the bottom of the American League Central.

While the record may not be much of a surprise to many, the fact that the pitching is not always the biggest issue may be. The Royals bats have been almost nothing but quiet, except for a few moments, and the defense has also come into question with errors starting to pile up.

Still, even with the breakdown of other areas around the team, the fact that there has been a number of positive things to say about the pitching staff is an odd, but welcomed experience.

A few games have gotten out of hand, but considering the circumstances, things aren’t so bad for the pitchers. The starting staff was cut to almost nothing due to injury or COVID, and many of the pitchers filling in are young and inexperienced.

The bullpen has continued to show up in full force, and while they have had a few shaky innings in recent games, it’s not unwarranted as much of the season has been placed on their shoulders and a breakdown was bound to happen at some point.

One of the brightest spots of the bullpen, though, comes in the form of a flame-throwing, man-bun sporting young pitcher, Josh Staumont. Of course, the season is young, and any sample size provided at this point is far to small to make any large judgments, but so far, Staumont is looking good.

In 2019, fans got a small look at the pitcher, who struggled with walks but still held his own fairly well. He managed 19.1 innings, walking 10 and striking out 15, but held his ERA a 3.72

Staumont created some excitement to begin the 2020 season initially when he had an outstanding start to spring training. Over 6.0 innings, Staumont gave up 4 hits with no runs, walked 3, and struck out 12. It was, of course, only spring training, but also a promising look at what the future could hold.

Now, Staumont is doing everything he can to prove that his spring training stats were no fluke.

Again, while it is a much smaller sample size, so far over 5.0 innings, Staumont has an ERA of 1.80, dropped his FIP from 6.06 in 2019 to 4.44, gave up 3 hits and 1 run, while walking 2 and striking out 9 for a strikeouts per 9 of 16.2. Here is a look at some of his pitches last night, causing some swings, and topping out at 101 mph.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1290645769901547521

There is a lot of season left, but for now, Josh Staumont looks to be on a mission to prove his worth and claim his spot in the Royal’s future bullpen.

Josh Staumont is off to a great start. While there is no telling what the future may hold, the future of pitching in Kansas City looks to be getting brighter and brighter.