Kansas City Royals: Rotation Continues To Struggle

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura (30) – Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

I’m not saying I want Ventura or Duffy to be Vargas or Guthrie. The latter two are fine back-end starters, who can usually eat up innings, and give your team a decent chance to win versus other teams back-end pitchers. Their deliveries, pitches, and methods of attacking the opposition are easily repeatable.

I think the misconception guys like Ventura and Duffy may have is that the Royals NEED an ace. They don’t. They need solid pitchers, and that’s it. The rest will take care of itself.

What I want is for Ventura and Duffy to realize that they can pitch at 93-96 mph, rather than throwing 97-101 mph. Zack Greinke went through a very similar phase when he came up as a Royal. He had some decent success his rookie year, posting an ERA in the high-3’s (3.97 to be exact), and followed that up the next year with a 5.8 ERA.

Look at the way Greinke pitches now. He doesn’t blow people away with his fastball. He can, or could, if he needed to, but realizes he gets more movement, and can be harder to hit at lesser velocity. He’s managed to turn that into a very nice 12-year career, and here he sits at age 31 posting an ERA of 1.52 in 2015.

I think the misconception guys like Ventura and Duffy may have is that the Royals NEED an ace. They don’t. They need solid pitchers, and that’s it. The rest will take care of itself.

This team is going win a boatload of games if those two swallow some pride, and realize they’re not the ones steering this ship. They could certainly sabotage it, should their performances not improve, but they’re pretty far removed from being the driving force of this team, even at their peak. Defense, improved offense, a little bit of speed, and an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen are what the Royals are all about.

Next: Is the bullpen being used and abused?