KC Royals: Can Yordano Ventura Be The Ace In 2016

The Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, but imagine how much scarier this team would have been had their rotation panned out the way it was supposed to.

Yordano Ventura showed up in a big way during Game 6 of the World Series in 2014. The KC Royals faced their first elimination game during the entire playoffs and needed to win Game 6 in order to force a World Series-deciding Game 7.

James Shields hadn’t been the ace many had hoped he’d be and it all came down to if Ventura could do his job and not allow runs. He did just that and then some, going seven shutout innings and only allowing three hits all night.

It was a performance that the Royals desperately needed, and one that fans thought would be the beginning of the Ace Ventura show in Kansas City.

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Ventura had a rocky 2015 season though.

After being the designated “ace” for the 2015 season, Ventura fared well in his first two outings. It was after those first two games, however, where Ventura began to struggle.

He allowed five runs in the infamous Oakland match-up where he was ejected after beaning Brett Lawrie with a fastball. From then on, it was back and forth on which Ventura decided to show up. When he was good, he was fantastic. When he was bad, it was ugly. Really ugly.

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In fact, Ventura had a horrible stretch of games during the summer and was actually demoted to AAA. Of course as we all know, that didn’t end up happening. Ventura stayed in the majors after the injury to Jason Vargas, and that’s when he regained his composure.

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Ventura’s most impressive stretch came during the end of August and early September. He earned five wins in a row and struck out 11 batters in two straight games.

Yes, Yordano Ventura certainly had good games in 2015, but he did not live up to the hype that fans had for him in 2015. Maybe that’s unfair, but everyone was waiting to see that Game 6 of the World Series pitcher appear, and he would make a brief appearance, but never seemed to stay for long.

Heading into the 2016 season with a World Series championship under their belts, the KC Royals only have two guys set in stone for the starting rotation next year – one of them being Yordano Ventura, the other being Edinson Volquez.

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Volquez outperformed Ventura in almost every aspect this season. He was the better pitcher and deserves to be the ace of the staff. Ventura, however, will be headed into his third season with the team and will be with the Royals past 2016, unlike Volquez (signed a two-year deal last off season).

It could benefit the Royals to have Ventura be their main guy right out of the gate to give him that confidence for the future.

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What do you think Royals nation? Could Yordano Ventura be the ace next season?