Royals pitching duo must step up amid injury nightmare, even after busy deadline

Just a month ago, few Kansas City Royals fans could have imagined that starting pitching would become the team’s biggest need at the trade deadline. The rotation had been one of the game’s best for much of the season, but injuries to Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic have rocked its foundation.

Bubic is shut down indefinitely, and while there’s a slim chance Ragans returns later this year, the Royals can’t afford to count on a late-season rescue.

The acquisition of Bailey Falter will certainly help fill one of those gaps, but there's still uncertanties beyond that.

And while Thursday's deadline deal for starting options in Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek will certainly ease some of those uncertainties, these are still two new arms coming in to pitch in a new environment with only small career major league sample sizes.

Also, Kansas City made a smart move by locking up veteran Seth Lugo after his historic first half, but even with Lugo leading the way, the pressure is now on Michael Wacha and rookie Noah Cameron to step up. If the Royals hope to stay in the Wild Card hunt, those two arms will need to carry a much heavier load down the stretch.

With Royals rotation shallow, more falls on Michael Wacha and Noah Cameron to produce

Wacha and Cameron may not see their individual workloads change drastically, but the margin for error is shrinking fast. Earlier in the season, Royals fans could generally count on the rotation to deliver competitive outings—enough to keep even the struggling offense within reach through five or six innings.

But as Rich Hill's second start showed, things can unravel quickly when so many Opening Day arms are on the injured list. Hopefully the new trio of arms will fare better than the 45-year-old journeyman in Hill did on fillinf those voids, but that doesn't change the fact the Royals need for their original guys in Cameron and Wacha to step up.

Noah Cameron is in the midst of a dark-horse Rookie of the Year campaign and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down since the All-Star break. He gave up two home runs in his July 21 start against the Chicago Cubs, but still earned the win—and followed it with five shutout innings and another victory on July 27 against the division-rival Cleveland Guardians.

Despite making just 14 starts in 2025, Cameron already ranks as the third-most valuable rookie starting pitcher in MLB, and his 1.5 fWAR is second among American League rookies. He’s taken his lumps this season, but fans have come to expect steady, competitive outings from the lefty.

Wacha's 3.3 fWAR in 2024 marked a career high and set lofty expectations for his time in Kansas City. The Royals doubled down by signing the longtime Cardinals righty to a new deal this past offseason, and so far, the decision looks wise—Wacha owns a 3.53 ERA and 2.3 fWAR.

Still, many projection models are bracing for regression down the stretch. FanGraphs’ suite of systems forecasts an ERA between 4.10 and 4.44 over his remaining starts, more in line with his underlying metrics. That kind of slide wouldn’t be the sole reason Kansas City misses the postseason, but it certainly wouldn’t help their chances, either.

All that to say: Cameron and Wacha may be more important now than at any other point this season. They'll still only take the ball every fifth day, but with the Royals chasing a Wild Card spot against the odds, each of their starts will carry heightened pressure and scrutiny.