After dropping 106 video games in 2023, the Royals responded to the embarrassing outcome by occurring a relative spending spree final winter. Bobby Witt Jr.’s 11-year, $288.78MM extension naturally drew a lot of the consideration, however Kansas Metropolis spent $110.5MM on free agent contracts, most notably bringing Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to bolster the pitching employees. The technique paid off handsomely, because the Royals rebounded for his or her first profitable file and playoff berth since 2015.
Not content material to simply make the postseason, Okay.C. defeated the Orioles within the Wild Card Collection earlier than falling to the Yankees in 4 video games within the ALDS. This playoff run supplied a little bit of a nationwide showcase for Cole Ragans, who had a sterling 0.90 ERA in 10 innings and two postseason begins.
Witt’s MVP-level efficiency, Salvador Perez’s robust bounce-back 12 months, and the quick impression of Lugo and Wacha rightly drew a number of credit score for the Royals’ success, but in addition they considerably overshadowed Ragans’ continued excellence since coming to the Royals in June 2023. Persevering with the “beneath the radar” theme, Ragans’ season could be drawing a number of Cy Younger Award buzz if Tarik Skubal wasn’t such a heavy favourite for the trophy. Actually, Skubal is the one AL pitcher who had a better fWAR than Ragans, and solely Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler topped Ragans among the many Nationwide League’s arms.
Ragans posted a 3.14 ERA over 186 1/3 innings, and his 29.3% strikeout charge and 31.8% whiff charge each ranked in no less than the 88th percentile of all pitchers. Ragans did job of limiting onerous contact and avoiding residence runs, which couldn’t be fully attributed to pitching at Kauffman Stadium — the left-hander’s highway ERA (2.87) was really higher than his residence ERA (3.40). A below-average 8.8% stroll charge was the one actual flaw in Ragans’ arsenal, although he no less than improved on his 10.5% stroll charge from the 2023 season.
The changeup has been Ragans’ most constantly stable pitch over his three MLB seasons, and batters solely hit .183 in opposition to the offspeed providing in 2024. The massive distinction in arsenal this season, nonetheless, was that Ragans began to extra totally capitalize on his 95.4mph fastball’s elite spin charge. Ragans’ fastball was ranked by Statcast as a below-average pitch in 2022 and 2023, however including about 1.2 inches of vertical break on the pitch from 2023 to 2024 appeared to unlock one thing particular, as his four-seamer was abruptly among the many more practical pitches in all of baseball.
This massive 12 months solely continued the sudden success Ragans loved after he was traded to the Royals (together with outfield prospect Roni Cabrera) from the Rangers for Aroldis Chapman in June 2023. Chosen thirtieth general within the 2016 draft, Ragans’ profession was placed on maintain for the whole thing of the 2018-20 seasons because of two Tommy John surgical procedures after which the canceled 2020 minor league season. He pitched nicely sufficient after his return to motion to finally earn his first MLB call-up in 2022, and Ragans had a 4.95 ERA over 9 begins and 40 innings for Texas in his rookie season.
Understanding of the bullpen in 2023, Ragans had struggled to a 5.92 ERA in 24 1/3 reduction innings on the time of the commerce, however the Royals instantly gave him one other look within the rotation. As if a swap was flipped, Ragans posted a 2.64 ERA in 12 begins and 71 2/3 innings over the rest of the 2023 marketing campaign, and the Royals abruptly had a rotation constructing block as a silver lining inside their dismal season.
After now a full season of success for Ragans, that Royals/Rangers commerce is trying like one of many extra impactful win-win deadline offers in latest reminiscence. Calling it a “deadline deal” is maybe a misnomer because it got here a month earlier than the commerce deadline, because the Royals have been already in promote mode and the Rangers have been determined to shore up their badly struggling reduction corps. Groups are likely to have larger asking costs in commerce talks additional upfront of the deadline, but shifting Ragans was a worth the Rangers have been keen to pay with the intention to obtain bullpen assist as rapidly as doable.
Whereas Chapman wasn’t precisely hermetic throughout his time in Arlington, he pitched nicely sufficient down the stretch and within the playoffs to assist Texas safe its first World Collection championship. The “flags fly ceaselessly” mantra is a fairly good salve for any regrets the Rangers or their followers may need about letting Ragans go for a rental reliever, whereas the Okay.C. group is undoubtedly thrilled with every thing they’ve seen from their new ace.
Ragans turns 27 in December, and nonetheless has one other full season remaining earlier than reaching wage arbitration. Locking up Ragans to a contract extension would assist the Royals get some price certainty over a pitcher whose ceiling solely appears to be rising, plus the rotation might use some solidification since Wacha will certainly train his opt-out clause and check free company once more. On the flip aspect, since Ragans is beneath group management by means of his age-30 season and already has two Tommy John surgical procedures on his resume, the Royals would possibly nicely maintain off on any severe extension talks and simply go year-by-year with Ragans for now.
Deciding greatest take care of the sudden windfall of a frontline pitcher is a pleasant downside for the Royals to have, and in hindsight the Ragans commerce was the primary signal that Okay.C. was going to capable of rebound from its 106-loss catastrophe. An incapability to develop homegrown pitching prospects stalled the Royals’ rebuild for years, so there’s some irony in the truth that the group’s emergence has now been led partially by one other group’s seemingly stalled prospect.
