Royals young sensation remains Rookie of the Year dark horse after lights-out start

After dropping their third staright game and falling further out of the AL Wild Card hunt, things are pretty "doom and gloom" for the Kansas City Royals at the moment.

Their offense has become ice-cold again and all the while they've been dealing with several key names hitting the shelf over the past few weeks.

However, despite all the turmoil this team is suffering at the moment, one individual name continues to push towards some prestigious individual hardware.

After yet another stellar outing on Tuesday in what's been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, Noah Cameron remains firmly in the American League Rookie of the Year conversation with just a handful of series remaining in the 2025 campaign.

Noah Cameron continues to insert himself into AL Rookie of Year conversation

While most people will look at Tuesday night's loss and focus on the fact that the offense struggled mightily once again, dropping the Royals to 4.0 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot, Cameron's stellar outing should be just as noteworthy.

The 26-year-old southpaw went 7.0 innings at Progressive Field, surrendering just two earned runs on six hits, while striking out eight and walking none.

Manager Matt Quatraro had plenty of great things to say about his starter's stellar night in his postgame media availability.

"He was really good attacking the zone," Quatraro said. "I thought his slider was really good, he mixed up really well."

"100 pitches in seven innings, two runs, you're going to take that every day of the week," the skipper said.

And Cameron's outing won't be lost on AL Rookie of the Year voters either, as Tuesday's efforts should have done nothing but firmly keep him in the conversation for the prestigious first year honor.

The month of August might have been rougher for him, as a 4.33 ERA and 1.37 WHIP doesn't exactly have the same award-winning ring that his 1.84 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in the month of July had. However, a strong seven inning outing to lower his season ERA to 3.00 and WHIP to 1.12 will surely reflect well amongst the deciding parties.

According to a Wednesday article from ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, Cameron is still right there amongst the top five contenders for the award, sitting fourth on the outlets AL ROY power rankings, only behind the Athletics duo of Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson - ranked first and third respectively - as well as the second ranked Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox.

While the sensational season Kurtz is putting together for the A's will be tough to beat, as Doolittle has him projected to be a unanimous winner, the fact Cameron is even in this conversation is remarkable.

From going from a top five prospect in the Royals system, who might have been thought to be an injury replacement or odd spot starter when needed this season, to now becoming a potential finalist for a major individual award is a testament to just how strong Cameron has burst onto the big league scene.