Royals' ailing rotation could soon be getting high upside reinforcement to help fuel hot streak

While the Kansas City Royals may be riding some major momentum right now amid a nine-game winning streak, it doesn't change the reality that they're still sporting a roster riddled by injuries. The one position that's been battered the most has been their starting rotation. Cole Ragans, Stephen Kolek and Luinder Avila are all regulars recovering from elbow surgery and they've been without key 40-man depth names in Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna for essentially the entire year for the same reason.

Luckily for the Royals, their trio of Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Noah Cameron have been able to hold down the fort to a degree and Randy Dobnak looks more and more like an unconventional but lasting solution after each start. But names like Dobnak were a bit of gamble, as so was moving Daniel Lynch IV to the rotation from the bullpen. But the Royals might be able to get a notable reinforcement in their starting staff before the year comes to end after Tony Gonsolin's rehab assignment was announced.

Gonsolin, who the Royals signed earlier in the month, is set to begin a rehab assignment in Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday. The former Dodgers All-Star has been on the shelf since June of last season as he recovers from elbow surgery. However, with skeptical starting depth in Omaha that's only been tested as the season has gone on, there's no denying that Gonsolin would be a welcome addition to this Royals staff.

Should Royals fans expect him to be the same type of All-Star arm he was in 2022? No.

Not only has he not pitched in over a year, that came off the heals of missing all of 2024 due to injury as well. That's seven starts in the last three years for the veteran righty.

That being said, with the upside he showed before his first lengthy IL stay, he's certainly a name worth a bit of buzz should he end up taking the mound for the Royals in 2026. From 2019 to 2022 he never posted an ERA over 3.23 and his 2022 season was truly something special. In 24 starts that season, Gonsolin threw to a 2.14 ERA with a 0.87 WHIP and .172 BAA.

If not Tony Gonsolin, who would the Royals call-up for their starting rotation?

As touched upon earlier, the starting staff in Omaha has been without a lot of heavy hitters since Bergert and Kudrna went down early. Mitch Spence is sporting a 5.35 ERA in Omaha and has squandered his major league opportunities with the Royals to a colossal degree. Then the likes of Ben Sears, Henry Williams and Ryan Ramsey all present their red flags and an overall unproven element.

Gonsolin has his flaws himself, but unlike these names he's proven to be at the bare minimum a serviceable major league arm. And for this current Royals staff, that could do wonders. Wacha and Lugo look good enough but are aging entities, Cameron is looking great now but also has that brutal start to the season hanging over his head, Dobnak's underlying metrics don't match his lights-out back of the card stats and Lynch has looked far better as a reliever than a starter.

With September call-ups just days away, the Royals are all but guaranteed to call up an arm. While he likely won't be ready by the time Sept. 1 rolls around, if he can join even for the last few weeks, it could very well help the rotation and give them a look at if Gonsolin is worth picking up his club option on in 2027. And who knows, maybe their hot streak will continue and they'll be back in the Wild Card hunt in the final weeks of the season, where Gonsolin's value can really be put to the test.

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