Grading the 2021 KC Royals, Part 4: Starting pitchers

If there was ever a season packed with “what ifs” for a KC Royals starting rotation, the 2021 campaign was it.

What if Danny Duffy hadn’t suffered two left flexor strains and the Royals hadn’t traded him?

What if Brady Singer had embraced a changeup?

What if Brad Keller hadn’t been so inconsistent?

What if the Royals had waited another season to call up Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar?

Those questions defy conclusive resolution. Easy to answer, however, is the question of how the Kansas City rotation performed.

It was a disappointment, which begs another question: how should the primary starters grade out?

A pair of veteran KC Royals deserve different grades for the 2021 season.

Danny Duffy entered the season with things to prove. He’d never lived up to the expectations underlying the five-year, $65 million contract he signed shortly before 2017 spring camp opened, couldn’t escape speculation he’d be better in relief than in the rotation, and needed to excel in the final season of his lucrative contract.

For the first month of the campaign, Duffy looked like the Duffy whose 12-3 2016 season convinced the Royals he was their $65 million man. After beating the Twins May 1, he stood 4-1 with a tiny 0.60 ERA. But he lost his next two starts, giving up seven runs in 11.2 innings, and suddenly found himself on the Injured List with the first of two left flexor strains that cut deeply into his season.

Duffy returned to the IL July 10 with his second flexor strain; the Dodgers traded for him in late July, but he never pitched for them and is now a free agent with a cloudy future. But how he pitched for the Royals this season can’t be forgotten. He was good again, and for that he deserves a B+.

Mike Minor, a former Royal whose return the club secured with a two-year deal last December, is a different story. The 10-year major league veteran gave the club something it wanted—a lot of innings—but wasn’t the complete pitching package it hoped for. Instead, he went 8-12, 5.05; yes, he tied Brad Keller for most Royal wins, but he also tied him for most losses and posted the second-worst ERA. Opposing batters hit .297 against him.

We recently gave Minor a C when we evaluated the Royals’ offseason additions. That grade won’t change here.

A trio of young KC Royals don’t merit high grades for their 2021 efforts.

The fans’ clamor for Jackson Kowar began not long after the minor league season began in early May. Kowar, a top Kansas City prospect working at Triple-A for the first time, owned a 5-0, 1.01 ERA and .183 OBA record by the end of the month, leaving Kansas City fans eager for his major league debut and calling for it regularly on social media.

The KC Royals made them happy by promoting Kowar June 7. He started against the Angels that night but didn’t last an inning after giving up four runs and three hits, and walking two. He started two more games before an 18.00 ERA and 0-2 record forced him back to Omaha.

Kowar returned to the KC Royals in September but lost four of six starts and ended the year 0-6, 6.43. He gets a D.

Rookie Daniel Lynch’s initial taste of the big leagues was as rattling as Kowar’s. Summoned to Kansas City from Omaha in early May, he went 0-2 with a 15.75 ERA before the Royals recognized he wasn’t ready and returned him to the minors.

He earned another chance with KC in late July and went 4-4, 4.35 the rest of the way to finish 4-6, 5.69. His improvement was obvious, especially in August (3-0, 2.39), but a rough September (0-3, 8.69) and his first three outings of the season mean he gets a C.

Second-year lefthander Kris Bubic also deserves a C. After starting exclusively in 2020, Bubic split time between the 2021 rotation and bullpen but still started 20 times. He was 5-6, 4.77 in the rotation.