Kansas City Royals: Top 15 Pitchers in Wins All-Time

Kansas City Royals all-time wins leaders: 4. Kevin Appier (115 wins)

Not only is Kevin Appier the Royals’ fourth leader in wins, but he is also one of the longest-tenured guys to play for Kansas City. He spent a whopping 13 seasons as a member of the KC Royals!

Appier was the team’s ninth overall pick in the 1987 draft and began contributing to the majors by the 1989 season. He was only 21 years old when he took the mound for Kansas City for the first time.

While his career as a Royal didn’t start off too hot, Appier looked much better by the time the 1990 season rolled around, posting a 2.76 ERA in 32 games.

As good as Appier was for the Royals, the team didn’t have a lot of other good players. The Royals were really bad when Appier pitched in Kansas City.

In fact, Appier did not get to pitch in the postseason for a team until the 2000 season when he was a member of the Oakland Athletics. He went 11 years pitching for a losing team and then finally got a taste of playoff baseball.

As good as Appier was for the Royals, the team didn’t have a lot of other good players. The Royals were really bad when Appier pitched in Kansas City.

Despite not pitching for the Royals in a time in which they weren’t contenders, Appier proved to be one of the franchise’s best pitchers. He had a career ERA of 3.49 in 13 years with Kansas City, 115 wins (92 losses) in 1,843.2 innings throughout 287 games (275 of which he started).

The early 90s were the best season for Appier, as he posted ERAs of 2.46 and 2.56 in 1992 and 1993. He had 18 wins in 1993 and made it to the All-Star Game in 1995.

Kevin Appier spent 13 years as a Kansas City Royal when not many guys wanted to play for them. That makes it even more impressive with the number of wins he was able to rack up during his time in Royal blue.