KC Royals: Ned Yost Sets His Rotation
By Scott Dillon
The regular season is now only seven days away for the KC Royals and Ned Yost has named the opening day starter as well as the rest of the rotation.
The KC Royals had a lot of options in filling out their rotation to start the season. While it seemed like no matter what combination of pitchers they used would be weak, it was still anyone’s guess as to who would fill out the five starting pitchers.
KC Kingdom correctly guessed the five starting pitchers back in January, but the actual order came out pretty different.
In that article, I had Yordano Ventura slotted in as the opening day starter followed by Edinson Volquez. Ian Kennedy, Kris Medlen, and Chris Young filled out the rotation as the third, fourth, and fifth starters respectively.
According to Rusin Dodd, Royals’ beat writer for the Kansas City Star, it will be Volquez who get’s the opening day start instead of Ventura.
The Royals' rotation will go Volquez, Kennedy, Ventura, Young and Medlen. Ned Yost said Medlen may be held out first time through.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) March 26, 2016
It’s not all that surprising the Volquez earned the opening day start against the Mets. He was the Royals best pitcher last season and he’s certainly earned the opening day start.
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Kennedy pitching second is slightly surprising and Ventura should surely be the second best pitcher for the Royals. There are a couple of reasons that pitching Ventura third makes a lot of sense.
- Ventura has been suffering from the flu. Skipping the first two games gives him an extra four days to recover.
- He settled down last season when he no longer had to wear the ‘Ace’ label on his sleeve. Maybe starting him out as the third starter will give him some confidence and take the pressure of the young Royals’ starter.
- Kennedy and Volquez have a lot of experience in pitching to National League teams. Volquez and Kennedy both spent the majority of their careers in the National League.
- Ventura got rocked the last time he faced the Mets. Aside from not having to deal with the extra adrenaline of the pregame ceremonies, not having to face the Mets with an eye towards redemption is nice also.
The Royals have three days off in the first eight days of the season. Because they play so infrequently, the Royals may not have a need to use Kris Medlen the first time through the rotation. That just gives him even more time to get right after his first healthy off-season since his second Tommy John Surgery.
The Royals have also gotten good Spring Training performances out of reclamation projects Dillon Gee and Chien-Ming Wang. Wang pitched three scoreless innings just yesterday and his sinker is resting in the mid-90s.
Next: Projecting The Opening Day Roster
Ned Yost has plenty of options to fill out his rotation if things go south. The good news is the bullpen may be even deeper this year than it was last year. Not only do they have four players that would be closers for any other team in their bullpen, but Danny Duffy will head there also. He’s been very effective out of the pen in his career.
So what do you think KC Royals’ fans? What do you think about Ned Yost’s rotation decisions? Would you have Kennedy pitch second? Let me know your thoughts in the comments’ section below.