Kansas City Royals: Fifth starter in rotation up for grabs in Summer Camp

Summer Camp is underway for the Kansas City Royals and fans will be locked in on the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation.

A few days ago, I wrote a post on how one of the most intriguing position battles in Kansas City Royals Summer Camp was at first base. While that’s still true, the fifth starter in the rotation is another job that’s vacant and will be won by a lucky suitor through their performance in camp.

It’s a pretty well-known fact that the Royals have four of the five spots filled for their rotation. Those will be filled by Brad Keller, Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery, and Jakob Junis, all of whom were with the team last season (Montgomery joined halfway through when he was traded by the Cubs).

Keller looks to be the ace of the staff. The 24-year-old (soon to be 25 in a few weeks) starter began his Royals career as a reliever, but was moved to the rotation when injuries occurred to the starters. Keller has done well in the rotation and was the team’s Opening Day starter last year.

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Duffy was once the ace of the staff, but injuries have plagued his career and cost him that role. He started to show glimpses of what got him into that role at the end of the 2019 season, but Duffy’s issue has always been that he gets injured way too often.

Montgomery joined the team midway through last season and didn’t fare well in his 64 innings of work, posting an ERA over four. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do in a shortened season with less pressure riding on him.

Junis was an electric rookie back in 2017, but his numbers have gotten worse in each season since then. While he could eventually find himself in a reliever role, for now, he’ll be a starter, but the leash is getting shorter for sure.

Now, the Royals will be tasked with finding a fifth starter for their rotation and there isn’t really an obvious choice.

A lot of fans would like to see 2018 first round pick Brady Singer win the job and it’d be a good year to see what the Florida Gator can do on the mound. He’d likely have gotten called up at some point in 2020, but without a minor league season for him to work on his mechanics, that makes things a little more difficult for him now.

Another option is 2014 first rounder Foster Griffin, who fans have been waiting to see make it to the big leagues for awhile now. Griffin struggled in the minors last year, but bounced back in the Dominican Winter League. He could be a surprise candidate to win the fifth spot.

There are also names like Glenn Sparkman and Jorge Lopez, both of whom have made a fair share of starts over the past two seasons. Lopez was acquired in a trade with the Brewers two years ago and did not do well in a starting role, eventually settling in as a long reliever. Sparkman has also bounced back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen, but the Royals might want to keep him as more of a bullpen arm at this point.

There are several promising prospects making their way through the minor leagues and who landed on the 60-player club pool for camp, but not all of them are ready to be starters just yet. Pitchers like Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic are behind Singer in that department and while Jackson Kowar is close behind, it’d be Singer before any of those other pitchers got a crack at the starting rotation.

Next. Nine Prospects Who Could Make Debuts in 2020. dark

What do you think, Royals fans? Who would you like to see win the fifth starter spot in the Kansas City Royals’ rotation?

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