Kansas City Royals: Young pitchers need to show progress for future

The Kansas City Royals aren’t a good team in 2019, but their starting pitching has especially hit a wall as of late. In order for the rebuild to be considered a success, fans need to see more out of this starting pitching staff.

When looking at the future of the Kansas City Royals, the starting rotation in the contending years has the potential to be pretty exciting.

That starting rotation could potentially consist of Brad Keller, Jakob Junis, Jorge Lopez, Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, and Daniel Lynch. Obviously there won’t be six guys in it, but that’s a good looking group of pitchers, don’t you think?

Three of those aforementioned pitchers are in this year’s starting rotation and none of them are really wowing Royals fans at the moment.

Keller had a nice outing in St. Louis the other day, twirling seven innings of two-run ball, but for the most part, he’s been a disappointment this season. In Keller’s defense, it would have been difficult for him to do as well as he did during his rookie year in 2018.

Keller currently leads the Royals in innings pitched with 65 through 11 starts. He has a 4.43 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and boasts a 3-5 record thus far. The eyesore on Keller’s stat sheet is that he has 45 strikeouts and a whopping 41 walks. That won’t cut it in today’s MLB.

Junis impressed fans in 2017 as a rookie and has looked like a four or five starter throughout his time in the majors. He’s currently posting a 5.69 ERA and 1.50 WHIP with a 3-5 record while striking out 47 and walking 21 batters. Junis is second in innings pitched with 55.1 through ten starts.

Finally, there’s Jorge Lopez, who was acquired in a trade with the Brewers last summer.

Lopez showed promise with the Royals in 2018, but it’s been a rough go of it for the former Brewer early on in 2019. He’s third in innings pitched with 50.2 and has an ERA of 6.04 and a WHIP of 1.46. Lopez has struck out 48 batters while walking 20. He’s yet to win a game, sitting at 0-5 on the year.

Jorge Lopez has given up at least 4 runs in 6 consecutive starts. But he has such good stuff.
— Brandon H. (@BHIndepMO) May 16, 2019

When looking at these three pitchers, the biggest stat that jumps out is how they lead the team in innings pitched. That’s a sure sign that they can be the future of the rotation, but improvements will have to come.

With Singer, Kowar, and Lynch all doing well in the minors, they’ll be options to have in the rotation when the Kansas City Royals are contending again. If Keller, Junis, and Lopez want to ensure their spots as starters, their 4.43, 5.69, and 6.04 ERAs respectively won’t cut it.

Keller had a strong case to be the Royals All-Star representative last year and his follow-up season has been a disappointment to say the least. He’s still probably the best pitcher in the rotation (okay, maybe Danny Duffy, but will he be with the team when they’re in contention?), but hopefully Keller figures it out and becomes that same pitcher Royals fans saw in 2018.