Royals may've made intentions clear with prospect hoping to crack Opening Day roster

The Kansas City Royals have plenty of positional battles going on in spring camp, but none seem more contested than who will crack the bullpen in 2026.

One name who left a great impression on the Royals brain trust late last season that will surely be eyeing a spot on this team's Opening Day roster is Luinder Avila.

After dazzling through his first 14.0 big league innings out of the 'pen in 2025, pitching to a 1.29 ERA, 2.14 FIP, 0.93 WHIP, .140 BAA and 28.6% K-rate, there was plenty of reason to believe that Avila may be name destined to transition to the big league bullpen in 2026.

However, when speaking to Jack Johnson of Locked on Royals last week, manager Matt Quatraro still admitted he sees the young right-hander as a promising starter in the major leagues.

Could Luinder Avila still end being a future starter for the Royals?

Regardless of starter or reliever, after ending the 2025 season within MLB Pipeline's Top 15 Royals prospects, this is first and foremost an exciting arm, which seemed to be the sentiment in the Royals skipper's words on Thursday.

"Shoot, I see him as a front-of-the-rotation starer down the road," Quatraro said to Johnson.

Now, while limited and also entirely out of the bullpen, his early major league stats are certainly encouraging when it comes to performing when the lights are at their brightest.

And from an underlying metrics perspective, he passed his opening MLB test with flying colors. He sported stellar quality of contact metrics, limiting hitters to 29.4% hard-hit rate, 2.9% barrel rate and 86.9 mph average exit velocity. On top of being a strikeout aficionado, he also managed to keep the ball on the ground at a 50.0% clip.

His expected metrics in the Royals 'pen were excellent as well, indicating that his major league success could be sustainable with a 2.06 xERA and .164 BAA.

However, again, all of this came out of the 'pen and the last time we saw Avila as primarily a starter, things didn't really go plan for him. In Omaha in 2025, he appeared in 14 games (nine of which were starts) and pitched to a 5.23 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.

That being said, he didn't become a highly regarded prospect for nothing. Pipeline's scouting report on Avila reflects well on his devasting 60-grade curveball - which bore a .095 BAA and .113 xBA in his major league bullpen cameo - as well as his "94-95 mph with flashes of the upper 90s", clever delivery and a big physical presence on the mound.

As exciting as the thought of having a prospect of Avila's caliber eventually joining the front-end of this starting staff is, the odds of it happening in 2026 seems slim given the Royals' plethora of starting arms already.

If he's going to be a starter, he'll need more seasoning and it would make sense not to get him too familiar with relieving games. So, in all likelihood, this will have to take place in the minor leagues as soon as possible, which would essentially eliminate his chances to break camp with team on Opening Day.

Time will tell how the Royals ultimately handle Avila, as there's still plenty that things to be sorted out in camp this spring, but if Quatraro's statement is to be treated as foreshadowing, Avila's name might be out of the running for an Opening Day spot in this staff already.