KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals announced today that they have signed right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha to a one-year Major League contract, with a player option for 2025. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. A corresponding move will be announced soon.

Wacha, 32, went 14-4 with a 3.22 ERA (48 ER in 134.1 IP), 124 strikeouts and a 1.16 WHIP over 24 starts for the San Diego Padres in 2023. Last year marked the third season of his career with at least 10 wins and an ERA of 3.40-or-lower (also, 2015 and 2022), and his 124 strikeouts were the most he’s recorded since 2017 (158). It also marked his seventh season with at least 20 starts (also 2015-17, ’19 with St. Louis, 2021 with Tampa Bay, 2022 with Boston).

Wacha earned National League Pitcher of the Month honors in May 2023 after going 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA (3 ER in 32.0 IP), 26 strikeouts and an opponents’ slashline of .147/.212/.193 (.405 OPS). This included 7.0 no-hit innings vs. Kansas City on May 15, in which he pitched into the 8^th inning until Michael Massey broke up the bid with a leadoff single.

Since the start of 2022, his .806 winning percentage (25-6) leads the Majors (min. 20 decisions), ahead of Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin (.800, 24-6) and Brandon Woodruff (.783, 18-5). His 25 wins over the last two seasons are tied for 11^th in the Majors with Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler, the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani, among others.

Wacha has pitched in parts of 11 seasons for the Cardinals (2013-19), Mets (2020), Rays (2021), Red Sox (2022) and Padres (2023), combining to go 88-54 with a 3.96 ERA (567 ER in 1288.0 IP) and a 1.29 WHIP. Of his 249 regular season appearances, 228 have been starts, in which he is 86-54 with a 3.85 ERA (529 ER in 1237.2 IP).

Wacha was named the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player as a rookie in 2013 with St. Louis after he threw 13.2 scoreless innings across 2 starts in Games 2 and 6 vs. the Dodgers. In that series, he established Major League rookie records in the postseason for the longest scoreless-innings streak (18.2 IP) and strikeouts (33). He has made 8 postseason appearances (6 starts) in his career, most recently in the 2021 ALDS with Tampa Bay.

Wacha was originally selected by the Cardinals in the 1^st round (19^th overall) in the 2012 Draft out of Texas A&M University. He was born in Iowa City, Iowa.