PHOENIX -- When Mitch Spence took the mound for his first Spring Training outing with the Royals last weekend, the radar gun immediately caught attention.
The right-hander’s cutter averaged 92.7 mph and his sinker sat at 94.9 mph during a two-inning appearance against the Brewers in Arizona. The outing included two strikeouts and showcased a noticeable jump in velocity compared with last season.
During the 2025 season with the Athletics, Spence averaged 91.1 mph on his cutter and 92.6 mph on his sinker across 32 appearances.
For Royals manager Matt Quatraro, the difference was immediately noticeable.
“He's thrown three to four miles an hour harder. That's a huge jump,” Quatraro said. “And that gives hitters a lot less time to react.”
Spence said the increase in velocity is the result of offseason work focused on refining his mechanics and strengthening his arm.
“The biggest thing this offseason was just cleaning up some stuff with my mechanics,” Spence said. “I started going to physical therapy and just kind of got my arm stronger from the workout program. I think it just kind of clicked.”
A major focus of Spence’s development has been his sinker, a pitch he has worked to refine over the past few seasons. He featured it again during Friday’s outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the pitch again topping out at 94.9 mph.
“Now it's been fantastic,” Spence said. “So now it's just trying to figure out when to use it, how to use it and just build confidence with it.”
Much of the progress Spence has seen this spring stems from the work he put in during the offseason. As he adjusts to a new organization, his focus has been on getting comfortable and building innings rather than making immediate adjustments.
“They're still trying to probably get to know me and figure out how I kind of go about things,” Spence said. “The biggest thing right now is just getting comfortable and getting acclimated over here and trying to get some innings under my belt.”
The Royals acquired Spence from the Athletics on Feb. 12 in exchange for pitching prospect A.J. Causey.
Spence’s rise to the Majors began when the Athletics selected him with the first overall pick of the Major League phase of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft from the Triple-A roster of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Quatraro said the Royals had already been familiar with Spence’s profile dating back to that draft process, but the recent increase in velocity has made him an even more intriguing option this spring.
“He's been very interesting,” Quatraro said. “The velo has really ticked up and the slider has gotten much, much sharper. So it's a really interesting look.”
If the added velocity holds, Spence could emerge as another option for the Royals’ pitching staff as the spring progresses.