4 frontrunners to join starting staff if Royals deploy 6-man rotation in 2026

The Kansas City Royals’ perceived depth at starting pitcher has been the talk of the offseason. Not many teams are in that position heading into 2026, but the past two seasons have also shown how quickly a rotation can go from a strength to a scramble depending on the injury luck.

Heading into the season, a traditional five-man group already feels close to set: Cole Ragans, Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Noah Cameron, and a healthy Kris Bubic could form one of the AL’s most balanced rotations.

Six-man rotations, no matter how long they last, are still unpopular, but they are gaining traction around baseball.

Locked On Royals host Jack Johnson was down in Surprise earlier this spring and asked manager Matt Quatraro about the starter surplus and whether Kansas City could explore a six-man look.

Is a six-man rotation the plan? It does not sound like it. But is it an option to pull out when the schedule tightens, the innings pile up, or the injury bug shows up again? Absolutely.

Thankfully, Kansas City has real candidates who could slide into that role, even if it comes at the cost of a bullpen arm. At this stage of the calendar, here are the Royals’ best options to be that extra starter.

4 frontrunners to join starting staff if Royals deploy 6-man rotation

RHP Stephen Kolek

The Royals used 12 different starters in the second half of last season alone. They had to turn to Rich Hill, for goodness’ sake. That is how hard the injury bug bit.

The rotation turned into a below-average unit by ERA and FIP down the stretch, fueled by Seth Lugo’s struggles and only four combined starts from Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic. There were not many reinforcements waiting on the farm, which is why the midseason trade with San Diego ended up mattering even more than it looked in the moment.

Moving on from catcher Freddy Fermin stung, but acquiring Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek looks like a strong pivot right now. While Bergert’s raw stuff captured imaginations, Kolek delivered the cleanest results. He opened his Royals run with five straight quality starts, earned Royals Pitcher of the Month honors for September, and carried real momentum into the winter.

Kolek is not a strikeout machine (21 strikeouts in 33.0 innings with Kansas City), but the lack of walks and home runs allowed helped him post a 1.91 ERA and 2.71 FIP across those five starts.

Replicating that over a full season is a huge ask, but the profile fits what you want from a sixth starter: stable innings, quick outs, and fewer self-inflicted wounds. With three lefties already penciled into the rotation, a right-handed option makes sense in this slot.

The Royals clearly believed there was a pitch-mix adjustment here that unlocked another level. Now it is about whether Kolek can keep riding that wave into 2026.

RHP Ryan Bergert

If Kolek had not been as effective, Bergert might have been the post-deadline arm everyone talked about.

He started his Royals tenure strong, going at least five innings in each of his first six starts. One rough outing against Cleveland on Sept. 8 inflated his surface numbers, but the arsenal looked legitimate, and for a pitcher navigating his first extended taste of big-league work, he came off like a worthwhile bet.

The soon-to-be 26-year-old feels like a player who just needs the runway to show what his true floor and ceiling are.

The problem is the same one that makes this conversation possible in the first place: a healthy Kansas City rotation does not offer many openings. And Bergert is not a finished product.

He benefited from a .260 BABIP last season, one of the lowest marks in the league, and there are real questions about whether the results hold if that normalizes. Add in so-so control and a lack of consistent chase (21st percentile chase rate), and the case becomes clearer: Bergert can help you, but he still has work to do.

Would he be a perfectly fine fifth or sixth starter for a lot of teams? Absolutely. For Kansas City, the appeal is that he can be available without being forced into an everyday trial-by-fire if the front office wants him sharpening edges first.

RHP Mitch Spence

Last season taught the Royals that you can never have enough starters, and they doubled down by acquiring Mitch Spence. The Athletics designated the former Rule 5 pick for assignment, and Kansas City sent relief prospect A.J. Causey to Sacramento to get him.

It felt like a surprising price at the time, but the Royals were upfront: they did not trade for Spence to be a reliever. They see him as a starter.

Kansas City has liked Spence since his Yankees days, and this was a roundabout way to get him into the org. He has two pitches that can play, including one of the harder breaking sliders in the game.

The A's bounced him between starting and bulk relief, and he struggled in both roles. If you are betting against him, you are betting that the final landing spot is a short-stint bullpen arm, where the cutter and slider can play up.

If you are betting for him, you are betting Kansas City believes the environment mattered. The Athletics’ temporary home in Sacramento likely inflated offense in a way that did Spence no favors, and the Royals may believe his baseline is better than the back-of-the-baseball-card numbers.

The biggest issue to solve is his plan against left-handed hitters, who posted an .880 OPS against him in 2025. If the Royals want him in the rotation mix, they have to build a third answer, or at least a better one. Kolek’s jump came with a usage adjustment, especially leaning more into the changeup. Maybe Spence is the next test case.

LHP Bailey Falter

The Bailey Falter question is simple: what is he in 2026?

The former Pirate was supposed to help stabilize things after the deadline, but ineffectiveness and injury wiped out that vision. Kansas City still brought him back on a one-year, $3.6 million deal, and his role is murky because he has no options left.

If the Royals are committed to keeping him on the Opening Day roster, a six-man rotation becomes an easy solution on paper. Falter could also serve as a bulk innings option out of the bullpen, but he has historically been at his best when he is built up and racking up innings, not bouncing between roles and guessing when his next appearance is coming.

This is where Kansas City can make fans look silly. All it takes is one tweak, one comfort level change, one mechanical adjustment, and a pitcher looks like a different guy.

But whether it is as a sixth starter or as an innings-eater in relief, Falter entered camp with more skepticism than support. Brian Sweeney has a real reclamation job in front of him here, because the path exists, but it is not a forgiving one.