Cole Ragans leaves KC Royals fans concerned after exiting start with groin injury

While a feeling of championship buzz filled the confines of Kauffman Stadium on Friday, as the team honored the 1985 and 2015 World Series winning teams, the Kansas City Royals were unable to channel the success of those teams that came before them, dropping the first game of the weekend set against the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3.

And while the offense once again had it's issues and certain arms out the bullpen struggled mightily, the biggest thing Royals fans will be taking away from this one is the unsettling sight of seeing Cole Ragans leave his start early with a trainer alongside him.

The team would later announce that their ace left the game with left groin tightness.

Ragans has already been forced to miss a start earlier this season due to a groin injury, so a second early exit for a similar reason was not the most ideal of sights for the Royals faithful.

Cole Ragans leaves KC Royals fans concerned after exiting start with groin injury

Ragans didn't look his best tonight, as while he managed to strikeout seven through five innings, he still surrendered four earned runs on five hits, three of which were doubles.

His velocity was something that was also cause for concern, as after coming out for the sixth inning to face Masyn Winn, Jackson Stone of MLB.com reported that Ragans' third pitch was a fastball that clocked in at 89.5 mph - 6 mph lower than his season average on his heater.

To add to the concern, this wasn't the first time in recent weeks that Ragans had struggled, as his last start against the Boston Red Sox last Saturday saw him surrender four earned runs off seven hits and two walks in five innings.

And for the season in general, Ragans has not been as sharp as he has in recent years. While he still sits above the 85th percentile in K-rate like he has since 2023, his year-over-year turnover in terms of quality of contact has not been favorable at all.

In 2024, Ragans sat in the in 76th percentile of league arms in hard-hit rate (35.4%) and the 79th percentile in barrel rate (6.2%). However, this season he's fallen into the 55th percentile in hard-hit rate (40.2%) and the 58th percentile in barrel rate (7.6%).

This increase in hard contact surrendered has not been kind on the amount of runs he's giving up. In 2024, Ragans only surrendered four or more runs in six of his 32 starts. So far through nine starts, he's already given up four or more runs in four outings.

While the fear of injury is never great, at least it can help provide some understanding as to why the struggles Ragans is facing might be occurring.

And should the best case scenario occur and Ragans is able to avoid missing further time this season, there are some positives for Royals fans to hold onto with him. As mentioned already, he's still striking hitters out an immense rate, and while his last two starts haven't been great, he's only three starts removed from a stellar five inning shutout outing with 11 Ks against the Chicago White Sox on May 5.

While Royals fans can rest a bit easier knowing that it's not an arm issue for their ace - and this time the groin ailment is just considered just tightness, as opposed to the mild groin strain he left with last month - the question now will be whether or not he can once again avoid the IL.