NEW YORK -- The Royals are sticking with the same 26 players they utilized to sweep the Orioles in the Wild Card Series with for their American League Division Series against the Yankees.
Kansas City announced its ALDS roster on Saturday morning ahead of Game 1 on Saturday night in the Bronx, and it will carry 15 position players and 11 pitchers for the best-of-five series.
Here is the full roster:
Starters: RHP Michael Wacha, LHP Cole Ragans, RHP Seth Lugo
Relievers: LHP Kris Bubic, RHP Lucas Erceg, LHP Sam Long, RHP Michael Lorenzen, LHP Daniel Lynch IV, RHP John Schreiber, RHP Brady Singer, LHP Angel Zerpa
Catchers: Salvador Perez, Freddy Fermin
Infielders: Bobby Witt Jr., Paul DeJong, Adam Frazier, Maikel Garcia, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Michael Massey
Outfielders: Dairon Blanco, Kyle Isbel, MJ Melendez, Tommy Pham, Hunter Renfroe
Designated hitter: Vinnie Pasquantino
The Royals debated bringing on an extra pitcher for a series that could go five games instead of the three-game Wild Card Series, but they felt good about their staff – especially the starters in Wacha, Ragans and, presumably, Lugo in Game 3. Plus, they have the off days on Sunday and Tuesday, as well as next Friday before a potential Game 5, that helps them need only three starters with eight relievers. Not to mention, the length that Singer, Lynch and Lorenzen can give out of the bullpen protects innings if the Royals get desperate, although manager Matt Quatraro said he’d be willing to use them in shorter stints, too.
“Lorenzen had been coming back off the hamstring, so the last couple outings were two innings for him,” Quatraro said. “Lynch can do both. We've used him for one out, and other times he's gone three innings or more. He's been extremely versatile.
“Brady clearly can give us the length, but at the same time, we know in the right situation, we get a couple righties or a good spot in the order for him, he can go in there and blow it out and be as good and as tough as any righty.”
Lynch, Singer and Lorenzen didn't appear in the Wild Card Series, so they’re all going on a week-plus without pitching. But Quatraro said that has actually been a good thing. Singer feels fresh after logging 179 2/3 innings as part of the Royals' rotation all season. Lorenzen has used the extra time to get healthy after dealing with a hamstring issue the final month of the season. And Lynch threw 119 1/3 innings as a starter in Triple-A Omaha for the majority of the season before ending the season in the Royals' bullpen, where he tossed 20 2/3 scoreless innings.
“We put a big workload on [Lynch] these last few weeks,” Quatraro said. “He was throwing two [innings], two-plus, two days off, three innings, two days off. We asked a lot of him, and this was a big role change for him after starting all year in Triple-A. I think this rest is really good for him.”