Kansas City Royals: Pitching prospects give hope for a bright future

The Kansas City Royals are in the top five farm systems when it comes to pitching and this is a good sign for the future.

When the Kansas City Royals went to back-to-back World Series in 2014 and 2015, their biggest strengths were their bullpen and their defense. The starting rotation was one of the weakest aspects of that team, but it wasn’t a huge deal since all they had to do was make it through six innings and the dominant trio of H-D-H would take it from there.

Fast forward to now, and the Royals rotation could be very good in the coming years.

Sam Dykstra of MLB.com has written about the top 10 farm systems when it comes to both batters and pitchers and for the pitchers, he had the Royals at No. 5.

"The Royals graduated both former top prospect Brady Singer and 2019 Minor League strikeout leader Kris Bubic last season, and they still have more than enough to fit comfortably in the top five of these rankings. It helps that Asa Lacy — MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 prospect in last year’s Draft — fell to Kansas City at the fourth overall pick. Fellow left-hander Daniel Lynch remains the best arm in the system with three above-average pitches and good control, and Jackson Kowar might have the best offering of them all in his 70-grade changeup. If not for the Tigers, the Royals would have a claim for the best pitching prospect trio in the AL Central. The rest of the pitching depth among Top 30 prospects comes homegrown through the Draft and international markets. Even with Bobby Witt Jr. leading the hitters, the arms are the ones that helped Kansas City secure a top-10 overall system ranking heading into 2021."

This time last year, Royals fans were fixating on Brady Singer and if 2020 would be the year he got to make his MLB debut. Well, the call came and Singer rose to the occasion. His numbers weren’t eye-popping, but for those who watched his starts, it was understandable why Royals fans were excited while watching Singer pitch. His confidence on the mound is exactly what this team needs moving forward.

Kris Bubic, who was actually the fourth pitcher taken in the 2018 draft, was also called up. Bubic was fun to watch as well, but he struggled in spring training and will start the season in the minors (though don’t read much into this, as it’s likely just to give the team another reliever in the first week of the season).

With the current farm system, the three big names to watch are the ones Dykstra listed above — Asa Lacy, Daniel Lynch, and Jackson Kowar. Lynch and Kowar came from the 2018 draft (Kowar played at Florida with Singer) while Lacy was the Royals’ No. 4 overall pick just last year.

There’s a lot to like about the Kansas City Royals’ pitching moving forward.

These are the big names fans are excited to see, but there are several other pitchers who could make a name for themselves in Kansas City. Jonathan Bowlan and Austin Cox cracked the top 10 of the Royals’ prospect list while Carlos Hernandez, Alec Marsh, and Jon Heasley just missed the cut.

For a team that has struggled to field a good rotation in recent years, the future really does look bright for the Royals. They’ll lose Danny Duffy after this season to free agency (and while Royals fans love Duffy, they shouldn’t re-sign him unless he has a really good 2021 campaign) and Mike Minor is only signed to a two-year deal.

The rotation is starting to seem crowded for the Royals and this is a good sign. It gives the team flexibility and also could open up opportunities for them to trade one of these guys in order to help fill another need on the team.

It’s hard not to be excited about the future of the Kansas City Royals pitching and seeing their farm system ranked so high shows how far this team has come.