The Royals pitchers and their development has been one of the biggest factors for their recent success. Over the last several seasons, Royals fans have been very disappointed with the development of their top pitcher prospects, and rightfully so. In the last decade the Royals spent significant draft capital on several pitchers including guys like Asa Lacy, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar, Brady Singer and Frank Mozzicatto, many of which have not panned out the way that fans hoped. As the Royals organization has gone through significant turnover, the team has turned the tables and have proven an ability to develop new pitchers.

What went wrong with the pitchers from years past?

In the past, the Royals focus felt like it was on guys that had good size and a frame that they felt they could develop. They often looked for guys with good off-speed stuff, such as quality changeups or sliders to throw off the timing of hitters.

Guys like Jackson Kowar and Kris Bubic showed great change up options, and Asa Lacy and Singer both had high quality sliders when they were selected by the Royals. While many of these guys maintained quality off-speed stuff, they didn’t quite maximize their potential as they made their way through the system. Oftentimes, as you will see, this was not because of the development of their stuff but more because of their lack of command and ability to keep pitches effective in the zone.

Let’s start with Kowar, who feels like the perfect example of what went wrong in the past. Kowar truly was an elite prospect and a guy that I was very hopeful to see develop into a big-time pitcher for the Royals. He showed signs of a wicked changeup, one of the best I have ever seen from a prospect, as well as a big-time fastball, getting up to 97-98 at times. But the lack of command and poor development of his slider always held him back. Kowar had one of the worst walk rates in the MLB with the Royals and struggled to balance it with strikeouts which resulted in him being traded in 2023.

Next, we will look at Lacy, who was maybe the most disappointing, but not because of development. Lacy is a very simple story and his struggles to remain healthy have been well documented and disappointing. Between his eye, shoulder, back and elbow injuries, Lacy never has really gotten a chance. At the time he felt like a great pick, and it likely would have been the right pick if he could have been on the mound more often. As he currently battles back from TJ surgery, Lacy just got back to the mound, and I hope to see him healthy again soon.

Bubic and Singer have been the biggest success stories, as they have held roles and proven to have value to major league teams. Bubic returned from TJ surgery last year and was a huge part of the Royals push at the end of 2024. Singer was also a major contributor in 2024, posting a 3.71 ERA over almost 180 innings pitched and was a part of a major trade this offseason for the Royals to add their new leadoff hitter Jonothan India.

The last name is Frank Mozzicatto, who the Royals selected out of high school because of his good frame and huge curveball. So far, the problem for Mozzicatto has been the fastball and his inability to add much velocity or shape to it. The curve is elite for a prospect of his age, but simply put, the Royals need to improve his fastball for him to find success in the future. He has also struggled with command in the zone and has proven to be very hittable in the minors so far.

In the past, it feels like a repeating cycle of pitchers that were drafted, with high potential and some flashes of quality stuff. But the inability to develop the command or add new quality pitches held back many of these prospects and hurt them as they found their way moving up in the Royals farm system.

What is the approach of the Royals new staff and how has it been effective?

I have identified a few trends when it comes to the new staff, both with who they want to bring in and the way that they approach their development.

The first of which is something I have been calling for the team to do for years now, as they have prioritized adding guys with quality fastballs. In the past, the team had shown a complete inability to develop fastballs for their young pitchers. Having a good fastball is the base of your pitching arsenal and sets up every other offering a young pitcher has. With past prospects, it often felt like the team was working backwards, as guys had quality off-speed offerings, but couldn’t set them up due to sub-par fastballs. The new staff has gone out and found guys with quality fastballs that don’t need a ton of development so they have the set groundwork and feel they can build from that.

Next, we have seen the team go out and add guys with big curveballs that have a ton of spin or movement. Guys like Seth Lugo, Sam Long, James McArthur and Michael Lorenzen all have curveballs with big spin on their curveballs and were added by the new Royals staff. The idea behind this is that the curveball is a pitch that has the most spin of any offering, and if you can get a lot of spin on the curve, you likely will be able to generate good spin and movement on other offerings as well.

The last thing is simply command and aggressiveness to attack the zone. Brian Sweeney, Matt Quatraro and JJ Piccolo have clearly valued guys with good command and have sent the message of attacking the zone and making hitters swing from the top to the bottom of the organization. They have added guys like Seth Lugo, Micahel Wacha, Michael Lorenzen and John Schreiber as veteran guys with good command who can help improve the command for younger pitchers as well as helping them add new pitches effectively.

Lastly, let’s talk about some of these additions the new staff has made over the last few years.

Cole Ragans has likely been the biggest success story for the Royals after trading for him in 2023. At the time, many fans were disappointed with the deal, sending Aroldis Chapman, who was in the middle of a major bounce back season to the Rangers for Ragans and a young Roni Cabrera. But the Royals saw the big fastball, strong curveball and great changeup from Ragans and knew they could build on it. Ragans went from being unable to find a role in Texas to being the Royals ACE pitcher and being a true CY Young candidate in 2024.

Lucas Erceg was traded from Oakland, where he had shown great velocity and some insane off-speed offerings. But the Athletics struggled to get the most out of him and he never really found the success that they wanted from him. The Royals made a deal for Erceg at the 2024 deadline, and he seemed to make an impact the second he landed at KCI. He started to attack the zone and saw improvements with the lateral run on his pitches and became the Royals best reliever and maybe their best pitcher all together near the end of 2024.

Kris Bubic returned from injury as a new pitcher in 2024, with a slider added to his pitch mix and a much better fastball, he saw immense success coming out of the bullpen in 2024. The slider became one of his best pitches as he got a better feel for the command of it and his better fastball made the other pitches significantly more effective. Bubic struggled as a starter in the past, but almost immediately showed flashes when he returned from injury in 2024 and should have a major role in 2025.

Alec Marsh was maybe my favorite Royal in 2024 and was one of the easiest players to root for on the team. After struggling to make a role for himself with the team in 2023, Marsh put on a show in spring training and bullied his way into the 5th starter role in 2024. Marsh attacked the zone and showed immense improvement on his slider and his changeup. He may move to the bullpen in 2025, where you may see an increase in velocity behind his already quality fastball and I expect to see his success continue.

Brain Sweeney worked magic with Angel Zerpa this offseason where something clicked for him, and he found 3 MPH more velocity in his arm and broke out in 2024. His power sinker was a brutal pitch for hitters to get the barrel on and he also saw more movement on his changeup which paired well with his great slider. Zerpa made life very hard on left-handed hitters and had an elite GB rate in 2024 which the team will hope to see carry into 2025.

Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha will be lumped together here but don’t get it twisted, they both made huge impacts on the team in 2024. Lugo was a Cy Young candidate and showed off an elite ability to mix 10+ pitches into his arsenal effectively to get outs. He went for 200+ innings and was incredibly efficient for them in 2024. Wacha looked very solid and was exactly what the team needed from him, and he showed enough to earn a 3-year extension from the Royals this offseason. The impact these two veteran pitchers had on the younger guys cannot be overstated and they were a huge part of how the Royals made such a huge turn around this last season.

Other examples of development for the team include Sam Long, Carlos Hernandez, Daniel Lynch and several other guys in the minor leagues. This along with the addition of guys like Michael Lorenzen and John Schreiber helped turn around the direction of the franchise. They also have guys like Carlos Estevez, Hunter Harvey and Kyle Wright are all guys the team hopes can be effective, as the Royals hope to be a very competitive team in 2025.

These new methods have proven effective as they have made significant additions in the pitching department over the last few years. The list would get long, but guys like Lugo, Wacha, Ragans, Lorenzen, Schreiber, Erceg, Harvey, Estevez and so many other guys fit into these categories and show what the Royals new staff has been going for. This has brought hope to Royals fans who have been deprived of hope in the pitching department for years now and I have no reason to think that the success with development won’t continue.