Kansas City Royals: Pitchers who could make starting rotation in 2019

STARTING ROTATION CANDIDATES – SAM MCWILLIAMS

The Royals acquired Sam McWilliams in the Rule-5 Draft, which was held in December. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how that works, the Royals now have to keep McWilliams on their major league roster or he’ll be sent back to Tampa Bay.

While the 23-year old right-handed pitcher is a long shot to make the rotation, he has starting experience and I’m sure at some point or another, he’ll get a chance to make a few starts.

McWilliams spent time with three different minor league squads (two of Tampa’s and one of Arizona’s) last year and threw in 137.2 innings with an ERA of 4.38. Two of the clubs he posted an ERA under four, including a 2.10 that he had while with the A+ organization of Arizona. He started all but four games.

As I mentioned before, Sam McWilliams is a long shot to make the starting rotation out of Spring Training, but I won’t be shocked at all if he gets a few opportunities to appear in the rotation midway through the season due to injuries or struggles by the other starters.