Shaky spring outings cast Opening Day doubt on KC Royals pitching prospect

The 12-5 drubbing they suffered on February 27 at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers gave the Kansas City Royals little to be happy about. Bobby Witt Jr.'s first homer of the spring — a fourth-inning solo shot that had absolutely no bearing on the game — provided the only real KC highlight, especially when considered against the backdrop of poor Kansas City pitching that was mostly responsible the lopsided loss.

Besides the dozen runs they gave up — a stunning 10 in two-out situations — seven Royals pitchers yielded 15 hits, including three home runs and three doubles, and issued seven walks. And although the Brewers tagged non-roster invitees Ross Stripling and Thomas Hatch for five and four runs respectively, it was Chandler Champlain's second-straight shaky performance that the Royals may find the most concerning. After all, Stripling and Hatch are long-shots to spend much time with the Royals, Champlain is not.

Champlain, in big league camp only by virtue of his own non-roster invitation, isn't pitching like a promising young hurler who is, according to MLB Pipeline, the organization's 16th-best prospect (seventh-best pitcher). That should give the Royals some pause as they contemplate what will likely soon be the club's first camp cuts of the spring.

In short, any small chance he has of making KC's Opening Day rotation, much less its roster, may be gone.

Trouble has marred Chandler Champlain's early KC Royals outings

Making his second start of the spring, Champlain gave the Brewers a run on two hits. What made his performance disappointing, and took much of the luster off his pair of strikeouts, were the three straight walks he issued in the first inning and the batter he hit in the second.

Those problems only added to the troubles he experienced in his first spring training outing, when he failed to survive the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Through five outs, Champlain hit two of the nine batters he faced, gave up two hits and a walk, and handed the Dodgers three of their 10 runs. Kansas City still won 11-10, but it was no thanks to Champlain.

So it is that Champlain's two-game numbers aren't good. The four runs he's yielded in 3.1 innings give him a 10.80 ERA, his WHIP is 2.40, and opposing batters are hitting him at a .308 clip. And although his 10.8 SO/9 is nice, his matching 10.8 BB/9 is not.

As a non-roster invitee without any major league experience, Champlain's prospects for spending Opening Day in Kansas City weren't great when spring training opened. Now, they're worse.

But that doesn't mean he's off the Royals' radar.

Despite his struggles, Chandler Champlain has promise

Together with present prospect Beck Way and the since-departed T.J. Sikkema, Champlain came to Kansas City via the 2022 trade deadline swap that sent outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the New York Yankees. Then in his first pro season, Chandler was hit hard after the trade — he surrendered 35 runs in 32 innings (9.84 ERA) and lost three of four decisions at High-A Quad Cities.

Fortunately, he improved to 11-8 with a much more acceptable 3.33 ERA in the 2023 season he spent between Quad Cities and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Not so good, though, was last season — despite an excellent start to the campaign at Northwest Arkansas, he slumped after a promotion to Triple-A Omaha and ended the season with a 5.07 ERA and 6-10 record.

But don't judge Champlain by his disappointing 2024 campaign. He has good control with an interesting pitch mix — besides a cutter, slider, and curveball, he's been known to throw a changeup.

The Royals will almost certainly start Champlain at Omaha this season. That doesn't mean, though, that he won't make it to Kauffman Stadium before the year is out.