Ben Kudrna #59

Kudrna resides in Overland Park, Kan...Graduated from Blue Valley Southwest HS (Kan.) in 2021, where he led the Timberwolves to a 22-3 record as a senior, going 9-1 with a 0.99 ERA, .130 opponents’ average and 100 strikeouts to just 11 walks in 57.1 innings...Kudrna is one of four players on the Royals' 40-man roster who attended a Kansas City-area high school, along with Noah Cameron, Carter Jensen and Alex Lange...Was named Gatorade State High School Player of the Year for Kansas in 2021 and pitched a three-hit shutout in the Kansas 5-A state championship game...he also recorded three shutouts while not allowing an earned run across 12.0 postseason innings...Was committed to Louisiana State University prior to signing with Kansas City.

2025

Kudrna made a career-high 24 appearances (22 starts) between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha in 2025...In his last six starts at Double-A, from July 4-Aug. 13, he recorded a 1.71 ERA (6 ER in 31.2 IP), including a career-high 11 strikeouts in six innings on July 22 at Arkansas...Named Northwest Arkansas Pitcher of the Month for July and Texas League Pitcher of the Week for the period of July 21-27...Made his last four outings (three starts) of the season at Triple-A Omaha.

2024

Kudrna began his third professional season with High-A Quad Cities and was named River Bandits Pitcher of the Month in April after going 2-1 with a 1.37 ERA (three ER in 19.2 IP) with 25 strikeouts and just seven walks in four starts...Was limited to five High-A starts in June and July, but posted a 3.04 ERA (eight ER in 23.2 IP) in them and earned a promotion to Double-A for his debut on July 27, when he limited Arkansas to three runs (two ER) in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts...Joined outfielder Gavin Cross as Kansas City’s representatives at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game played at Globe Life Field...Saw inflated numbers in August (2-3, 5.87 ERA), but 10 of the 20 earned runs he allowed came in two of his six starts that month...From Aug. 8-20, he allowed six runs across 17.0 innings (3.18 ERA) with 16 strikeouts...Finished his campaign with an exclamation point, spinning 5.0 shutout innings vs. Arkansas, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out a season-high-tying nine batters.