On March 28 at Kansas City, Missouri, at Kauffman Stadium, the Twins will open the season against the potential next ace in the Kansas City Royals lineup.
Cole Ragans, a 26-year-old left-hander, received his first Opening Day selection of his young career on Sunday when the Royals selected him to start the game.
In his two years in the professional leagues, Ragans has only made 21 career starts since making his debut in 2022.
The North Florida Christian High School product Ragans, the No. 30 overall pick in the 2016 draft, was acquired by Kansas City in June in exchange for Aroldis Chapman, who was traded to the Texas Rangers. Due to two Tommy John surgeries on his left elbow that he had in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, he had some early career hardship.
But since then, Ragans has recovered from his injuries and has only gotten better, year after year. While pitching with the Royals the previous season, Ragans made 12 starts, went 5-2, recorded a 2.64 earned-run average, 89 strikeouts, and gave up 50 hits and 23 runs (21 earned) in 71.2 innings.
In August of last year, Ragans even earned American League Pitcher of the Month after posting
Baseball Savant reports that Ragans’ fastball increased significantly from 92.1 mph to 96.5 mph in the 2022–2023 season. There was also a noticeable increase in velocity for his cutter, changeup, and curveball, which is indicative of his offseason effort.
During spring training, Ragans has made four starts and is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, 16 strikeouts, and 13.1 innings pitched that have allowed 15 hits and 8 runs.
According to MLB.com, Matt Quatraro, the manager of the Royals, stated that Ragans deserved the Opening Day start because of his growth from the previous campaign and their opinion of him overall. MLB.com quoted Ragans as saying that you “dream about” getting the nod.
