These 2 pitchers could be difference-makers for the KC Royals in 2025

Fueled in no small part by game-changing offseason and midseason roster deals following their historically bad 2023 season, the Kansas City Royals became a different club in 2024 and worked their way into the playoffs for the first time since 2015. At no time, however, could two of the Royals' high-profile new acquisitions — pitchers Hunter Harvey and Kyle Wright — count themselves among the difference-makers.

Fortunately, that could change this year. If the health issues that prevented Harvey and Wright from being key factors last season are resolved, the Royals could be even better than last season.

Health kept Kyle Wright and Hunter Harvey out of the 2024 picture

Wright's absence from the mound for the entire season, and an injury that ended Harvey's KC season almost as soon as it began, left the Royals and their fans wondering what might have been. Both pitchers came to the club with plenty to offer, but the campaign ended with everyone still eager to see what the pair of talented hurlers can contribute this season.

Wright's case is the most intriguing. He hasn't pitched in the majors since 2023, when he went 1-3 with a 6.97 ERA for the Atlanta Braves and missed most of May, all of June, July, and August, and much of September fighting a shoulder problem. The corrective postseason surgery he underwent rendered pitching in 2024 highly improbable. Nevertheless, Kansas City felt good about his future and traded Jackson Kowar to the Braves after the 2023 season to get him.

Unlike Wright, Harvey did see action last year. Unfortunately for the Royals, though, most of his work came for the Washington Nationals before the mid-July deal that made him a Royal and cost Kansas City highly-touted third base prospect Cayden Wallace. Harvey, a respected reliever, was a disappointing 2-4, 4.20 ERA with Washington, then pitched only six times and gave up four runs in just 5.2 innings for the Royals before suffering a season-ending back injury in August.

So, how could Wright and Harvey make a big difference for the Royals this season?

The two pitchers will improve the KC Royals if they return to form

To understand how excellent they've been is to understand how Wright and Harvey could help Kansas City. Wright, for example, is one of the big leagues' rare recent 20-game winners — he led the majors with 21 victories in 2022, a season during which he lost just five times in 30 starts. Even advocates of more advanced metrics have to concede that 21 wins and only five losses constitute a pretty good season. He also posted a nice 3.19 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.

Harvey has also been excellent. While Wright was pitching so splendidly for the Braves in 2022, Harvey's 2.52 ERA in 38 appearances and 45 strikeouts in 39.1 innings for Washington put the National League on notice that he had to be reckoned with. Taking on more responsibility in 2023, he saved 10 games, posted an impressive 0.94 WHIP, and held opponents to a .203 average in 57 games.

Whether Wright and Harvey will recapture their finest forms is one of the biggest questions confronting the Royals as they prepare to welcome pitchers and catchers to spring training on February 12. If recovered and ready, Wright should compete for a spot in manager Matt Quatraro's rotation where he could join returnees Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Cole Ragans, and whoever else rounds out the starting corps. Harvey should fill a middle or late-inning relief spot.

And if they're back at the top of their games, Wright and Harvey will prove invaluable to the Royals in 2025.