KANSAS CITY -- The Royals released former first-round MLB Draft pick Asa Lacy on Monday, ending the 26-year-old’s tenure in the organization after six injury-riddled years and just 80 career innings of affiliated baseball.
Lacy, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, came to the Kansas City organization as a highly touted left-handed pitcher from Texas A&M who, on stuff alone, showed the potential of a frontline starter. The Royals gave him a $6.67 million signing bonus, a franchise record for a drafted pitcher. He was ranked as high as No. 30 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list in 2021, his first full season in professional baseball.
But Lacy never found the command to allow him to take a step forward in his early seasons, and then injuries took over, including a lat/shoulder injury in 2021, a back injury in ‘22 and ‘23 and two Tommy John surgeries -- one in the offseason after the ‘23 season and one in ‘25. He’s still rehabbing from the second one.
Lacy hasn’t pitched in an affiliated game since Aug. 18, 2022, with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He ends his Royals Minor League career with a 7.09 ERA across 80 innings and 29 games (19 starts).
With Lacy having spent parts of the last four years in a rehab setting at the Royals’ Arizona complex and set to become a Minor League free agent at the end of the season, the Royals made the decision to release him.
“We just got to the point where we felt like it was best for both Asa in the pursuit of the rest of his career and our organization,” Royals director of player development Mitch Maier said. “Different scenery. Relieve some of those pressures. … Let’s get him set up outside the organization and complex now and try to free him up and see if this will help him get back on track. That’s always been everyone’s goal: Getting him healthy. He’s always been extremely talented, but we just weren’t making the strides.”
COMPLETE ROYALS PROSPECT COVERAGE
While Lacy hasn’t pitched in some time, it’s still a disappointing end to his Royals career that began with a lot of promise -- and a lot of investment from the organization as a high Draft pick. Not every high Draft pick from any team is successful, but there’s extra pressure on those selections to make it and help the organization in the big leagues, especially for a team like Kansas City that relies heavily on its farm system. That’s why the Royals tried everything they could to get Lacy back on the mound in some capacity.
After years of doing so, it was time to move on.
“It’s difficult,” Maier said. “He’s extremely talented, and that’s been our goal from Day 1, is to get him to realize that potential and that talent, which warranted the selection in the Draft where he went. Our job and passion is to develop players and get players healthy, and a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into this, so obviously there’s disappointment associated with not getting him back to competing. Any time you don’t get a player back to competing at the level to realize their talents, it’s hard. But it’s also part of the game. We understand that.
“Our medical team was outstanding, working with Asa and his representation to make sure that no stone was unturned as we went through this process of trying to get him healthy. Asa worked extremely hard through the process, even when it was frustrating to not see the results. He busted his tail every step of the way with it. But hopefully this is the best decision to help Asa in the long run and for the organization.”