Royals Starting Pitcher With 4.53 ERA Predicted To Break Out In 2025
Anyone following the Kansas City Royals these days is aware of the big three pitchers in the starting rotation. The rest, though, is a bit of a question mark.
There's no doubt that Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha are one of Major League Baseball's best trios when all are at their peak. But that still leaves two rotation spots up for grabs, which the Royals have a few candidates to fill.
Kris Bubic has rotation experience, and Kyle Wright has a 21-win season under his belt, even if it was nearly three years ago. Perhaps the Royals' best option, though, is the righty who took the fifth spot in the rotation for most of the season.
Alec Marsh was a rookie in 2024, and he didn't exactly wow the Royals on the stat sheet. He went 9-9 with a 4.53 ERA in 129 innings, including 25 starts.
However, Anne Rogers of MLB.com believes Marsh has more in the tank, and could even be the key to Kansas City taking the next step as contenders in 2025. Rogers labeled Marsh as the top breakout candidate on the Royals for the upcoming season.
"Marsh will be the first to say he had some good stretches and bad ones in ‘24, but the Royals will be looking for him to take a step forward in ‘25," Rogers said.
"They’re down a starter after trading Brady Singer to the Reds and will need their other homegrown pitchers to step up and help fill those innings. The 26-year-old Marsh should get every opportunity to do so."
Looking through Marsh's numbers, the thing that stands out as a deficiency is the hard-hit metric. He gets enough strikeouts and doesn't walk batters, but his 16th-percentile barrel rate and 32nd-percentile hard-hit rate show that he has to stop getting punished for his location mistakes.
If Marsh can clean up that flaw, there's a solid chance he could follow through on Rogers' prediction. And the best motivator may be the fact that the Royals need him to do just that to have a shot at a deep playoff run.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org