MESA, Ariz. -- Entering Spring Training, the Royals’ rotation looked fairly set, with Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic returning from injury, Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo returning as the veteran starters and Noah Cameron returning following a standout rookie season.
The only question was what the Royals were going to do with all the depth they were also bringing into camp. Now that Opening Day is less than two weeks away, some things have changed within that question, but overall, it still remains open for discussion.
“With the depth we have, we have to make some really exciting decisions,” pitching coach Brian Sweeney said.
One of the decisions could be whether the Royals carry six starters to begin the year.
“We’re definitely considering it,” Sweeney said. “We have to be creative throughout the whole year to keep these guys running.”
The Royals have been hesitant to carry a six-man rotation in the past because, among other things, it takes a pitcher out of the bullpen and puts more work onto the remaining relievers. Starters also don’t love getting out of the five-day routine.
But there are times it could work, and the Royals are keeping an open mind. While they’re not going to put an innings limit on any of their starters, they are going to be cognizant of the workload, especially for Ragans and Bubic, who threw 61 2/3 and 116 1/3 innings last year, respectively.
Following the first four games of the regular season, the Royals will play a stretch of 12 games in a row before their next off-day on April 13. A few weeks later, they will play 13 consecutive games from April 28 to May 10. Those are two stretches where it might be reasonable to think a sixth starter would fit into the pitching plans.
“We’re talking about that all the time,” Sweeney said. “It could happen at different points of the year: ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ We have those first games and then the off-day, and then we’re 12 in a row in early April. That’s where a lot of injuries happen. ‘Should we do it there?’ We have to be really smart with these starters because workload matters for a healthy guy and a guy that was injured last year. How do we keep these guys running through the finish line and through October?”
Right now, it’s likely Cameron breaks camp as that fifth starter. By the numbers, he hasn’t had a great spring, with seven runs in 11 2/3 innings. But this is why Spring Training numbers are hard to evaluate -- performance here matters, but not as much as what the Royals saw Cameron do for 138 1/3 innings in 2025, when he posted a 2.99 ERA.
With Stephen Kolek sidelined with an oblique strain, the main starting depth pieces have narrowed to Ryan Bergert and Bailey Falter. Luinder Avila is still a part of this equation, but he has only pitched two innings ahead of Venezuela’s quarterfinal matchup against Japan on Saturday night. If the Royals want him to stretch out his innings more, he could start the season at Triple-A Omaha.
Bergert endured a rough outing Saturday against the A’s, giving up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings, but he impressed early on this spring. No matter how it shakes out, it’s pretty clear that the Royals will be relying on him at some point this year.
“Just the opportunity to go out there every five days has been really nice,” Bergert said. “Show them what I can do.”
Falter has allowed six earned runs in 6 2/3 innings this spring, but he’s also out of Minor League options, meaning he has to make the team or be designated for assignment. The Royals have also been open to trading him.
If a trade doesn’t materialize, they might be hesitant to move on from a piece of their depth before the season even gets started. The Royals don’t want to be in a position like last year, when depth was thin before the Trade Deadline. Falter could be the one who breaks camp as a long reliever/sixth starter to get the Royals through that early part of the season.
“I wish we could have a 20-man pitching staff,” Sweeney said. “But we have a constraint in the amount of pitchers that we can have. Having that depth is amazing because throughout the year, something crazy is going to happen. We have to pay attention to the workloads of each one of those starters. They’ve earned the right to pitch between the white lines and go as long as possible, but we do have to manage that. And we have the depth to fill in, if need be.”