Kansas City Royals: 2020 season will be year of MLB debuts

The promising future for the Kansas City Royals is on display now and the 2020 season might be the “Year of the Debut” for the talented pitching prospects.

The Kansas City Royals are going to attempt to be competitive during this crazy 2020 season with the high likelihood of injuries and illness at a moment’s notice capable of forcing a roster move. The Royals’ young pitching prospects will have an opportunity to make a big impact in keeping the team competitive all season long if they prove ready.

The Royals have already wasted no time in debuting top pitching prospects Tyler Zuber and Brady Singer on consecutive nights this weekend. Royals fans hope the pitching prospects on the taxi squad watched the debuts of Zuber and Singer and thought to themselves “That will be me soon!”.

What should Kansas City Royals fans make of these debuts?

Tyler Zuber

Tyler Zuber debuted Friday night against the Cleveland Indians and worked two scoreless innings, facing the minimum in a high leverage situation with the game still close late. Zuber looked outstanding facing Cleveland’s #1 through #6 batters, which includes former AL All-Stars José Ramírez, Francisco Lindor, and Carlos Santana.

Zuber attacked up in the strike-zone with the fastball and tunneled off the fastball with his off-speed pitches. He got Ramirez, Lindor, Santana, and Jordan Luplow to take “excuse-me” swings on his off-speed offerings.

The change-up looked absolutely nasty in Zuber’s debut sitting at 86 mph with about eight inches of drop and fade. He was able to pound the upper half of the strike-zone with 96 mph fastballs to set up his nasty off-speed pitches. We got some glimpses of his disgusting breaking ball, with Zuber keeping it low and out of the zone.

Manager Mike Matheny made a statement regarding the trust and confidence he has in Zuber by putting him out there with the game still close for not only one inning, but for two.

Zuber did not disappoint in his debut and I have lofty expectations for the former sixth round pick moving forward as one of the first guys up out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season. His ability to throw his excellent stuff for strikes will contend well in high leverage situations for the remainder of the season.