4 Triple-A hurlers the KC Royals might try in second half

September used to be an intriguing month for major league clubs. Races for playoff berths reached fever pitch for contenders and rosters expanded to 40 players for each club, meaning prospects were in the spotlight, especially for teams like the KC Royals who disappeared from the cream of the big league crop for 30 seasons after winning the 1985 World Series.

Sadly, September has lost some of its luster. Heated stretch run competitions remain, but clubs can now add only two players to their active rosters, rendering almost meaningless their ability to take late-season looks at prospects or players whose previous big league experience suggests they might have some of their old promise left. The drastic cutback hurts the Royals for obvious reasons.

Nevertheless, their disappointing season gives the Royals an extra opportunity to try several minor leaguers in The Show before the campaign ends. Because the club long ago forfeited any realistic postseason chances, it has nothing to lose by auditioning in the second half a few players from Triple-A Omaha whose futures with the organization may be uncertain.

And because pitching remains a sore spot, the Royals should give hurlers top priority.

(We don’t discuss Ángel Zerpa today—his future with the club seems secure, and he should be in the majors now, and not for just a look).

This pitcher the KC Royals might recall from Omaha has a familiar face.

We recently wrote about the comeback efforts of Eric Skoglund, who at the time was on Omaha’s Injured List after missing the 2021 season but had displayed encouraging signs during rehab assignments to the Arizona Complex League and High-A Quad Cities. Since then, he moved up to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where in six innings he gave up three runs but struck out six and walked only one before moving up to Omaha where, deemed fit for reactivation, he fanned two in a pair of scoreless innings Saturday.

So, don’t be surprised if the Royals test him again in the majors this season—he’s won only twice in 27 big league games, but they’ve always been high him.

Who else might the club check out?

This ex-major league reliever is giving the KC Royals reason to call him up.

Peruse Omaha’s roster and you’ll discover Sam Freeman is, at 35, the oldest Storm Chaser. In fact, he’s the only one born in the ’80’s, which suggests how young some of his teammates were when he pitched professionally for the first time in 2008.

Much water has since flowed under Freeman’s bridge. Parts of nine big league seasons and stints with six big league teams—the Cardinals, Braves, Rangers, Nationals, Angels and Brewers—lie behind him.

Yet here he is in 2022, toiling away in the minors, working to earn another big league chance.

And he just might get it.

Freeman, a two-time veteran of Tommy John Surgery who looked like another of Kansas City’s reclamation projects when he signed a minor league deal with the club in late January, has a 1.04 ERA in 24 relief appearances for Omaha. He’s also 3-0 and his WHIP is 1.077.

But control, a nemesis throughout his days in pro ball, could keep him in Triple-A. He’s walked 16 batters in 26 innings for a 5.5 BB9, which differs little from his major league 5.2 mark.

That doesn’t mean the Royals won’t give Freeman the shot he wants. He’s pitched well enough to get it, and the club needs to decide whether to keep him.

The KC Royals could audition a prospect before this season concludes.

Kansas City made Austin Cox, who’d just completed his third season pitching for Mercer University, their fifth round selection, and eighth team pick, in the 2018 amateur draft. But while five of the organization’s players picked before him (Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic and Kyle Isbel) and two chosen after him (Jon Heasley and Nate Eaton) have made it to the majors, Cox hasn’t.

That he’s played only in the minors isn’t from lack of trying. Or some success.

Cox signed and reported after the draft to the Royals’ Burlington rookie club and went a respectable 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 33.1 innings. He split 2019 between Low-A and High-A, posting an excellent 2.76 ERA and 2.6 BB9 to go with an 8-6 record.

Fortunately for Cox, his 2020 campaign wasn’t entirely lost to the pandemic—the Royals included him in the 60-man Player Pool, so he spent the summer working at their Alternate Training Site.

The club invited Cox to spring training last year, where he struck out six in 4.1 Cactus League innings before pitching in Double-A and Triple-A and turning in a 4-1, 4.10 regular season record.

This season, though, has been shaky. Cox recovered in June from a concerning April (0-2, 4.56) and bad July (0-1, 5.40) by going 2-1, 2.45 in five starts; he’s 2-1 this month, but with a 6.23 ERA, and 4-5, 4.31 for the season.

So, why should Kansas City give him a second-half shot? For one thing, he’s their 16th best prospect per MLB Pipeline; for another, the club needs to find out what he can do against major league hitters, especially after not protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft last winter. The lockout forced cancellation of the Rule 5, but he’s certainly a candidate for it this winter.

The Royals ought to take at least a short look at him.

Kansas City has four pitchers they have reasons to audition before this season ends.