Royals Injury Update: Cole Ragans surgery, Kris Bubic setback, Vinnie Pasquantino, Kyle Isbel returns

The Kansas City Royals have been as battered by the injury bug this season as any team and unfortunately their woes have only grown this week. Not only did they have to get creative with their roster after it was revealed Salvador Perez was banged up, but this week has also uncovered several updates of some existing names on the injured list.

The most notable was the development in the Cole Ragans surgery saga. After Royals fans were left with a bit of an ambiguous diagnosis last week regarding their ace, manager Matt Quatraro provided them with some much needed clarity - even if it wasn't what they wanted to hear. As Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star reported Thursday, the Royals skipper revealed Ragans had undergone surgery to repair his UCL.

This means that any hope for a 2025 return is out the door with a 10-12 month recovery facing him. Not only that, but a midseason timeline in 2027 is what the Royals are looking at, which would mark three straight seasons that their ace has been limited due to injury.

The Royals faithful knows that when Ragans is on, he's as good as an arm in baseball, finishing fourth in Cy Young voting in his last full season back in 2024. The hope now will be that he is able to return midseason and that his final year of control in 2028 isn't plagued as well.

Royals' Kris Bubic suffers yet another unfortunate setback in rehab process

The other more prominent arm on the shelf for the Royals is Kris Bubic and just when things were looking up for him after a productive opening rehab outing in Triple-A Omaha at the end of June, things came crashing down for the southpaw.

As Anne Rogers initially reported on Wednesday, Kris Bubic was scratched from his next rehab outing with shoulder soreness and then subsequently placed on the the 60-day IL to free up space on the 40-man roster. Rogers provided further detail on Thursday on Bubic's status since Wednesday's setback.

"[Bubic] received a cortisone injection today and will be shut down for the next 7-10 days," Rogers wrote. "Timeline still TBD, they'll have to see how he feels when he starts ramping up again."

Bubic's injury is certianly felt from a physical standpoint, as the Royals pitching depth has been under fire from all angles this season. However, with the trade deadline approaching, a Bubic return would've been a welcome sight. As a former All-Star who also happens to be an impending free agent after this season, he would've been the perfect trade deadline candidate to help kickstart a retool. And it's not as if he hadn't generated some trade buzz already this year.

Royals could be inching closer to the returns of Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel

Lastly, we round off with some good news as a pair of key injured position players could be nearing a return from the injured list, which is news the Royals so desperately need to hear. Anne Rogers reported Wednesday that both Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel made some positive strides in their respective recoveries as both took batting practice and did some defensive drills.

"The plan was to get them to AZ to continue rehab later this week, but they're actually going to stay in KC to continue their work," wrote about Pasquantino and Isbel on X. "Expectation/hope is that both go on a rehab assignment next week."

Pasquantino was finally finding his footing again in the heart of the Royals lineup before being placed on the 10-day IL on June 14 with a hamate fracture in his right hand. Then, the defensive specialist Isbel has been shelved much longer, landing on the IL on June 10 plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

The Royals have been patching this roster up for weeks now and while both of these injured regulars have had their limitations at the plate this season, this offense really can't do worse right now. What Pasquantino and Isbel bring to the table at the very least is reliable experience which the Royals' band of injury replacements can't say for themselves, regardless of how well they may be performing.

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