Kansas City Royals: What does future look like for Eric Skoglund?

By Leigh Oleszczak | Oct 1, 2018

PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 18: Eric Skoglund #53 of the Kansas City Royals delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 18, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

The Kansas City Royals’ 2018 season has come to a close and Eric Skoglund took the mound in the team’s final game of the year. What does the future look like for Skoglund in Kansas City?

After a rollercoaster of a rookie year in 2017, Eric Skoglund got a chance to start in the Kansas City Royals‘ rotation in 2018 and it was a rough start for Skoggy. He made nine starts before landing on the disabled list and the starts hadn’t been all that promising.

Skoglund was posting an ERA of 6.70 before being sidelined and went on to miss the next three months. He returned to the rotation in September and actually fared quite nicely on the mound in his final month of action, notching a 5.14 ERA to end the year. While that’s not a great ERA, Skoglund looked much better in his final five starts of the year.

In those five starts after the injury, Skoglund surrendered just four runs and looked like a much different pitcher than he did in the first half of the season. That was promising for Royals fans, who have seen this kid at his absolute best and his absolute worst already in his young career.

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So, what’s next for Eric Skoglund? The Royals have plenty of options for their rotation in 2019, including veteran and fan favorite Danny Duffy, rookie sensation Brad Keller (who will be in his second year by then), Jakob Junis, Ian Kennedy, and also have some young options like Jorge Lopez, Heath Fillmyer, and Glenn Sparkman to consider for a spot.

Skoglund has the ability to be a decent starter, but can he beat out any of those guys for a spot in the Royals starting five? I didn’t even mention Nate Karns, who missed the entire 2018 season due to injury. If Karns is healthy and ready to go, he’ll be a candidate to pitch in the rotation as well.

It’ll be interesting to see what the KC Royals decide to do with Skoglund moving forward, but he has made a strong case in his last five starts that he deserves a rotation spot. Lopez and Fillmyer are both young and promising pitchers, but they’re the only two that could be removed out of the other options.

Duffy and Kennedy aren’t going anywhere due to their salaries (though I don’t think anyone would be sad if Kennedy somehow got dealt to another team) and Keller and Junis are two of the most promising players on the team. That leaves one spot.

Has Eric Skoglund done enough in the last month of the season to prove his worth as a future starter? We’ll have to wait until spring training to find out.

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