Kansas City

Royals

He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four. Wacha’s four spring outings have produced an 8.44 ERA, and he gave up three runs in three innings in his lone WBC appearance for Team USA. On the brightside, he had a 7.64 ERA last spring and still opened up with a 2.98 ERA in his first eight starts.

Something just isn’t right here, though Estévez keeps pitching anyway. His average fastball was 89.2 mph tonight, down from 95.9 mph last year. His best outing so far saw him average 90.8 mph for the Dominican Republic against Team Israel. He’s been under 90 mph in all three outings in Royals camp. Obviously, he’s not complaining of anything, but it seems like a good idea to stay far away from him in drafts. Lucas Erceg, on the other hand, is worth a late-round pick, even though he hasn’t looked particularly strong himself this spring.

Strahm was charged with a run after departing the game against the Rangers. He has a 3.38 ERA in six appearances this spring.

Spence was a long shot to crack Kansas City’s season-opening roster this spring. He’ll open the year back in the upper minors after being acquired from the Athletics in a small trade earlier this spring. The 27-year-old holds a respectable 4.77 ERA (4.67 xERA), 1.40 WHIP and 192/70 K/BB ratio across 236 innings in the majors since 2024.

Collins has been managing a back issue recently and will DH on Wednesday night before returning to playing the field later this week. The 28-year-old corner outfielder appears on track to be ready for next week’s season opener.

Falter was originally going to start the game, but the Royals changed their minds and had him pitch behind Aaron Sanchez, since he’s probably going to be a middle reliever once the season starts. The switch obviously worked out well, except for the rest of the Royals’ pitchers giving up 10 runs over six innings in the loss.

The double was a 109-mph laser to center. If Marte could still play quality defense in a corner, he’d probably be a solid enough regular at age 37. As is, it’s probably for the best that the Royals will mostly limit him to at-bats in left field and at DH against lefties. It shouldn’t be enough to make him helpful outside of deep AL-only leagues.

Ragans gets the ball for his third consecutive Opening Day assignment. The 28-year-old fantasy ace is a borderline SP1 in fantasy drafts this spring after posting a 4.67 ERA (2.67 xERA), 1.18 WHIP and 98/20 K/BB ratio across 61 2/3 innings over 13 starts during last year’s injury-marred campaign.

Bergert’s departure from camp is a notable development since it virtually guarantees that Noah Cameron will have a rotation spot to open the year. The 26-year-old righty posted a respectable 3.66 ERA (4.32 xERA), 1.26 WHIP and 73/35 K/BB ratio across 76 1/3 innings between the Royals and Padres as a rookie last year. Misner and Rave were candidates for a spot on Kansas City’s bench but will head back to the minors to open the year. They profile as platoon options at the highest level.

Thomas has been a mostly forgotten outfielder in fantasy drafts this spring, going outside the top 400 in NFBC formats since the start of March. The 30-year-old speedster still offers 25-steal potential but it’ll be hard for him to deliver much else in a platoon role with the Royals, especially since he’ll be batting towards the bottom of the lineup when he does get a chance.