Royals' Cole Ragans can prove doubters wrong after drop on MLB Network's Top 100 list

It's not an overstatement to say the 2025 was a terrible year for Kansas City Royals ace Cole Ragans.

After reaching the career heights he did in 2024 - landing amongst the top five in AL Cy Young voting with a 3.14 ERA and establishing himself as one of the league's most lethal strikeout arms, with an American league leading 10.77 K/9 - a mid-4.00s ERA campaign plagued by months of time spent on the IL just seemed like the ultimate let down.

This prompted an overall drop in how the baseball world viewed him across the league for the upcoming season, most notably MLB Network in their Top 100 players for 2026 list.

As the list slowly gets revealed stage by stage, Kansas City saw a few names in the first reveal of 20 players last week, including Ragans at 89th. This marked a steep 46-place drop from his 2025 standing of 43rd.

However, as justified as the ranking crew over at MLB Network might be for slipping Ragans down so dramatically, signs certainly point to a return to ace form in 2026.

Cole Ragans has the opportunity re-insert himself in the good books of the baseball world as the Royals' ace

As touched on already, in his his injury-ridden 2025 campaign, Ragans sported an underwhelming mid-4.00s ERA.

However, the buck really stopped there for overall poor numbers, as the rest of his statistical outlook looked serviceable or better.

Sticking with more traditional stats, Ragans tossed to a respectable 1.18 WHIP and .226 BAA and was still the dominant strikeout force he'd built his reputation on in recent years with an excellent 14.30 K/9 clip.

Looking at some of his expected and underlying metrics, Ragans fared just as well.

A 2.50 FIP along with a 96th percentile 2.67 xERA and 97th percentile .187 xBA show just how much a product of unluckiness Ragans was in 2025. And along with ranking above the 65th percentile in fastball velocity, average exit velocity and chase rate, his underlying metrics were highlighted by 100th percentile K-rate and a 95th percentile whiff rate.

And looking at the note on which Ragans ended the 2025 season and is entering 2026 on, his return in the month of September was nothing short of phenomenal.

In 13.0 innings pitced in the final month, he posted a 2.77 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 0.77 WHIP and .136 BAA with a whopping 45.8% strikeout rate.

The stats are their that when fully healthy, there's a reason why this guy is a perennial Cy Young contender and it's no wonder why GM J.J. Picollo has fought so hard to hold onto him amidst much trade speculation this offseason.

With a strong 2026 campaign, who knows how high Ragans might climb in the 2027 edition of MLB Network's Top 100 players list.