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Two years ago the Kansas City Royals had James Shields. This time last year they acquired Johnny Cueto on their run to the World Series. So far in 2016 their starting rotation has been the Royals’ biggest weakness with no help in sight.
This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that has followed the Royals at all this year. Their starting pitching ERA is 5.00. Granted, there are five teams with worse ERAs, but the Baltimore Orioles are the only team with a worse starting pitching ERA and a winning record. The Orioles are also the only American League team with fewer innings pitched by their starters.
In no small part their issues are caused by the enormous amount of home runs the starters have allowed. Their starters have allowed more home runs than any other team in the American League. Another issue is the number of walks that they have allowed so far in 2016. They have allowed the fourth most walks in the AL. So they’re walking people on board and then throwing gopher balls to let the other teams get them in.
The sad thing is that the rotation has been relatively healthy. Much of this shortcoming must go on the shoulders of ace Yordano Ventura. The Royals keep putting him forward as their ace, but Ventura keeps coming back with mediocre results. He has a an ERA over 5.00 and leads the rotation in most walks allowed. Chris Young has been a disappointment as well, allowing more home runs than any other starter while only pitching about half as many innings. The Royals have been forced to keep Young in the rotation because of the injury to Kris Medlen.
This team is trying to repeat as World Series champions. With less starting pitching and injuries to their young core, it has been a tough row to hoe so far this year. Hopefully the starting rotation won’t be such a big weakness in the second half of 2016 that it keeps them from defending their title in October.
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