Kansas City Royals: 2020 rotation considered one of weakest in MLB

The Kansas City Royals are in year three of their rebuild and their rotation has slowly been improving. Bleacher Report still has them near the bottom of their 2020 starting rotation rankings.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report ranked all 30 starting rotations in Major League Baseball and had the Kansas City Royals rotation at 25th on his list. The only teams ranked lower according to Miller were (from 26th to 30th) the Mariners, Athletics, Giants, Marlins, and Orioles.

Here is part of what Miller had to say about why he had the Royals so low on his list:

"If [Montgomery is] mediocre again, the Royals don’t have any other viable options. And it’s not like Duffy or Junis have been delivering Grade-A performances over the past two years, either. Kansas City basically has an entire rotation made up of third and fourth starters."

Miller also mentioned that Brady Singer likely not making the rotation to start the season led him to have them this low (though it’s doubtful they’d have been much higher in that scenario). He does have Singer being in the rotation though along with Brad Keller, Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery, and Jakob Junis.

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The part where Miller says the Royals essentially have a rotation consisting of third and fourth starters is pretty spot on, but the hope is that Singer and the prospects drafted the same year as him (Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, and Kris Bubic) can help turn that around in the coming years.

Keller also has shown an immense amount of talent and while he’s not an ace, he’s capable of winning big games for this team. He’s still young and a big building block for this rotation moving forward.

Duffy’s problem isn’t necessarily his production, but his inability to stay healthy. He did show that he still had the it factor in the final two months of the 2019 season and the hope is that that production carries over into 2020.

Miller said Montgomery was a big factor in how the Royals rotation would ultimately look. He didn’t look great in his limited action in Kansas City after being traded last season, but 2020 is a new year.

As for Junis, he’s regressed since his rookie season and if he doesn’t turn the corner this year, a move to the bullpen wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world. He’s probably not ever going to be anything more than a fourth starter in the Royals’ rotation.

It’s not surprising to see the Royals rotation ranked near the bottom, but that hopefully won’t be the case a year or two from now. Singer, Kowar, Lynch, and Bubic should be able to make a big difference and that’s another reason why 2020 being shortened is unfortunate because we all wanted to see these guys make their debuts this year.

Singer probably isn’t in the rotation come Opening Day (whenever that may be), so until he makes his debut, this group won’t get a lot of respect from the average baseball fan.