KANSAS CITY -- The list of Royals pitchers who will be sidelined with injuries well into 2027 keeps growing, and two more arms were added Tuesday.
Right-handers Stephen Kolek and Luinder Avila will both undergo ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (Tommy John surgery) on Wednesday, the Royals announced Tuesday.
With Tommy John rehab usually taking 12-14 months, it will be late into the 2027 season before the Royals might see Kolek and Avila take the mound again in Kansas City. The Royals will also be without Cole Ragans and Ryan Bergert to start ‘27 due to elbow surgeries, with Bergert undergoing full Tommy John surgery in late April and Ragans receiving a UCL repair in July.
“It’s been a tough year injury-wise all the way around,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “You can name off a whole bunch of guys that have gone through it. Like we’ve said a bunch of times, it’s really unfortunate. I feel really badly for the guys who put in the work to try to stay healthy, and unfortunately they haven’t. Especially when you have these major surgeries that cost you the whole year, it’s really trying.”
Avila was placed on the 15-day injured list with right forearm tightness on Sunday after his 2 2/3-inning start on Saturday in Colorado. In 21 games (12 starts) this season, Avila posted a 5.53 ERA across 70 innings. He had taken over a full-time rotation spot over the past few months with the Royals dealing with other injuries, and as a starter, he had a 6.67 ERA (51 2/3 innings) compared to a 3.44 ERA (18 1/3 innings) as a reliever.
Kolek’s season has been up and down due to different factors. He began the year on the IL with an oblique strain but came back in May as part of the Royals’ rotation. In June and July, Kolek was away from the team on several occasions due to the premature birth of his daughter, Faye, and the Royals gave him the time to support his family.
On July 18, Kolek made a rehab start to help him get back into a pitching rhythm after his time away. But he exited that start early due to injury and was placed on the 15-day IL with a right flexor strain on July 19. He spent the last two weeks back with his family while also getting a second opinion on his elbow, which ultimately led to scheduling surgery.
After a poor start performance-wise to the season, the Royals have been decimated by injuries, particularly on the pitching side. Avila, Kolek, Ragans and Bergert all have had or will have surgeries that put them on the shelf until varying points of 2027, meaning the Royals can’t count on them as part of their Major League rotation or depth heading into next year.
That’s part of the reason why the Royals didn’t trade starters Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo ahead of Monday’s Trade Deadline; the club will already spend most of its efforts this offseason rebuilding the pitching staff and adding depth, and officials did not also want to replace Wacha and Lugo in the rotation.
The Royals also have two relievers with extended stays on the IL in Carlos Estévez, who recorded one out in the big leagues this year and has been sidelined since April 1 first with a left foot contusion and then a right rotator cuff strain, and Nick Mears, who has been on the IL since May 29 with a right shoulder impingement.
There are 12 players currently on the IL, six of whom were on the Opening Day roster, and eight of the 12 are on the 60-day IL. Kansas City has 31 pitchers on its 40-man roster (including 60-day IL players), and nine of them are on the IL.
“It’s one of those things that not every injury is for the same reason,” Quatraro said. “Not all these guys do the exact same thing. Some of them might have had some preexisting things. Some have come for different reasons. We’ll absolutely evaluate it. Unfortunately, I’ve been through this before in some spots where they kind of come in bunches. And then you go a while and you don’t have them. We will evaluate everything.”