Royals LHP Asa Lacy struck out seven while allowing two earned runs Sunday for Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Lacy, 22, also gave up an unearned run, and he walked two to go with the aforementioned seven punchouts. The fourth-overall pick of the 2021 draft out of Texas A&M, Lacy was a disappointment in his first professional year, as he posted a 5.19 ERA in 52 innings before a shoulder injury stopped his season in July. When he’s at his best, this is a hurler that has four pitches that can miss bats, but his control was awful last year (41 walks in those 52 frames), and there are question marks about whether he can throw enough strikes to reach his ceiling. You can’t give up on a 22-year-old of Lacy’s talent just yet, but there’s just as much risk in his profile as there is reward.