Image credit: Christian Petersen, Getty Images
The Royals acquired Colin Selby in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this month. In return, the team sent minor league pitcher Connor Oliver. Since arriving in Omaha, Selby has pitched to a 10.38 ERA. In a corresponding move, Kansas City has optioned starter Jonathan Bowlan to Triple-A Omaha. Bowlan was promoted and made the start on Monday. Bowlan allowed four earned runs over 2.2 innings pitched.
The move represents just another piece of the puzzle after starter Alec Marsh was placed onto the 15-day IL last week. Marsh was hit in the forearm by a sharp comebacker to the mound. With Marsh’s spot in the rotation now behind us for another four games, the Royals shuffle the deck once again to bring another reliever into the bullpen.
Selby’s season ERA with the Storm Chasers isn’t pretty, but it’s heavily impacted by a single outing back on April 18. In that outing, Selby allowed five earned runs to score and only got one out before leaving the game. Since then, Selby has made two appearances and struck out five over two perfect innings. In his most recent outing on April 24, Selby leaned heavily on his sinker/curveball combination. He averaged 94mph on the sinker with 17 inches of vertical break and 10 inches of horizontal break. He finished the day with a 63% CSW% on the pitch.
In an outing on April 21, Selby generated five swinging strikes on eight total swings while striking out the side.
