KC Royals Top 5 prospect will get his shot in MLB as Cole Ragans will miss next start

After going down with what at the time was initial groin tightness, which later turned out to be a "very mild left groin strain" according to manager Matt Quatraro, a cloud of uncertainty of whether or not Cole Ragans would be ready to pitch by his next turn in the rotation loomed over the Kansas City Royals.

Well now we know that unfortunately Ragans will need to miss at least a bit of time, as ahead of Tuesday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays it was announced that the Royals' ace will not make his scheduled start on Wednesday, as per Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

Instead it will be the Royals' fifth overall prospect, Noah Cameron, who will get the start against the Rays in what will be his MLB debut.

Cole Ragans sidelined for Wednesday's game vs. Tampa Bay

While it's never a great time to lose your ace, this is an especially bad time for the Royals to lose Ragans, as they're riding a bit of high after going home 5-1 in their latest home stand and winning six of their last seven, following a dreadful 2-8 road-trip.

His last two outings did not go great, as he surrendered four earned runs in his shortened three inning outing on April 24 and gave up five earned runs in four innings on April 18. However, his three starts before that saw him throw at least five innings of one run ball with 10+ strikeouts - including a 7 2/3 inning outing with one earned run and 10 strikeouts on April 13 against the Cleveland Guardians.

Whether or not Ragans will be forced to hit the IL remains to be seen, but losing him for even one start is less than ideal.

Noah Cameron will get the ball for his MLB debut on Wednesday

At least there is some silver lining to this difficult news, as Royals fans will get a shot to see one of the organization's top farm hands, in Noah Cameron, at the major league level for this first time.

The 25-year-old southpaw has been crafting a solid season in Triple-A Omaha to start the 2025 campaign. Through 22 1/3 innings across five starts, Cameron's sporting a 3.22 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and .185 BAA with 10.88 K/9.

This comes off the back of an impressive 3.08 ERA season in 2024 across the upper minors, including a 2.32 ERA in nine starts in Triple-A.

Cameron will take the mound at 6:05 p.m. CT at Steinbrenner Field against a Rays team, who enter this three-game series against Kansas City riding a five-game winning streak.