2 old friends, good club await the KC Royals in Baltimore

Baltimore, last season's winner of the American League East Division, may not boast as many former KC Royals as do the White Sox, but the Orioles have a couple of Kansas City alums waiting to test their former teammates when the two clubs open a three-game series Monday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Royals will almost certainly see one of those old friends on the field, but might not face the other during their first road trip of the season.

Will a former Royals pitcher work against his old teammates?

Over three months have passed since Kansas City moved on from one of the hurlers it swept up in its then-acclaimed raid on pitching at the 2018 major league draft. Traded by the Royals to Baltimore in January after going 5-11 with a 5.45 ERA for them in parts of three seasons, Heasley was rostered with the Orioles' Norfolk Triple-A affiliate Sunday when the big club recalled him.

Because Heasley had yet to throw a pitch for the Tides this season, it was Cionel Pérez's oblique injury, and not Heasley's 2024 performance, that triggered the move. That Pérez is a reliever suggests Heasley, who started his first 24 major league games for the Royals but worked exclusively out of their bullpen last season, won't begin any of the three KC-Baltimore contests. Whether Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde, last year's AL Manager of the Year, uses him depends primarily on how his rotation fares.

What other former teammate might the Royals face?