Lyles right signing despite stats


Kansas City heading into the season this year was and is a team full of young pitching, making the signing of Jordan Lyles really important. The Royals signed Lyles despite having underwhelming stats throughout his career. Before signing with the Royals, the righthander was an inning eater for the Rangers and the Orioles the past two seasons. According to an interview with MLB.com, Royals’ General Manager J.J Picollo explained the reasoning behind signing a pitcher with a career ERA over 5.00: "Has shown in the last two years that he can really handle a heavy workload.”  The righthander certainly isn't part of the Royals long-term plans, so his main job is mainly to take the mound every fifth day and go deep into games, taking pressure off the bullpen. A rested bullpen is great for any team, especially for a team that has a young pitching staff that hasn't shown they can go very deep into games besides Brady Singer. Kansas City unfortunately has had two pieces of the rotation on the shelf for quite a while in Brad Keller and Kris Bubic. The injuries to Keller and Bubic have forced the Royals to make changes in the rotation more than they had hoped this season. Kansas City has had to use multiple pitchers to fill in those roles rather than pitchers like Alec Marsh, Tucker Davidson, and Angel Zerpa. Throughout this season's multiple changes in the rotation, Lyles on the other hand, has remained healthy and an innings eater for the team. The righthander has thrown three complete games for the boys in blue so far this season. Before signing with the Royals, Lyles was a workhorse for the Orioles in 2022. The right hander continues to be a workhorse in his career. According to camdenchat.com: "For Lyles specifically, the surprising development for me is that he actually did pretty much exactly what the Orioles signed him to do. There were only 21 pitchers in MLB who made at least 32 starts this season; one of them was Lyles." Although Lyles isn't the only veteran pitcher on the Royals roster, he's the only proven veteran who the team can rely on to go out every fifth day and eat up innings. On average, Lyles pitches five innings per start, with the exception of three games this season with the Royals. The right-hander, according to The Baltimore Sun's Nathan Ruiz, was a great teammate while pitching for the Orioles: “He’s our leader, basically,” rookie starter Kyle Bradish said. “We call him Dad. That’s the running joke, even though he’s not too much older than us, but he’s got that experience.” The Lyles signing seems to be more and more important for the Royals as the season continues, and next season as well. The pitching staff in Kansas City is young with three fifths of their pitchers under the age of 30. In some ways, Lyles's presences in the Royals clubhouse could be more important next year  than it has been this season because of the chances of Zack Greinke retiring at the end of the season, leaving Lyles as the most experienced pitcher in the rotation. The righthander has plenty of experience playing in the big leagues. Kansas City is his eighth organization in his career. Although the right hander is a good leader on the team, he also needs to lead the pack or be close to leading the pitching staff in ERA, quality starts, and innings pitched. While I would love to see the righthander lead the pack in all those categories, that obviously won't happen. Most importantly though, he needs to lead the Royals in innings pitched and give the team convenience that he can put up at least above average numbers, including an ERA under 5.00. Finally, Lyles must continue to eat up innings the rest of this season and continue the trend into next season with Kansas City.

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