Kansas City Royals bring back former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke
Former Kansas City Royals first-round draft pick and Cy Young Award winning pitcher Zack Greinke has signed a free-agent contract to return to Kansas City.
Greinke, 38, signed a one-year deal that will pay him $13 million dollars and includes $2 million in incentives if he pitches 160 innings this season, according to a source with knowledge of the contract.
He’s a six-time All-Star, two-time ERA title-winner and six-time Gold Glove Award winner who’ll be entering his 19th season in the majors.
The Royals drafted Greinke out of high school in Apopka, Florida, with the sixth pick in the 2002 MLB Draft. In seven major-league seasons with the Royals, Greinke went 60-67 with a 3.82 ERA, 931 strikeouts, 280 walks and a 1.26 WHIP in 1,108 innings (210 games, 169 starts).
He won the Cy Young in 2009 when he went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA. He joined Bret Saberhagen (1985, 1989) and David Cone (1994) as the only Royals to win the award.
Greinke started his career with the Royals and made his major-league debut in 2004. He stayed with the Royals through the 2010 season.
The Royals traded him along with Yuniesky Betancourt and cash to the Milwaukee Brewers for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi in December 2010.
Greinke still hold franchise records for consecutive scoreless innings by a starter (38) and consecutive innings without allowing an earned run (43). He also still ranks among the franchise all-time leaders in starts (ninth, 169), strikeouts (eighth, 931) and fewest walks per 9 innings (third, 2.27) among other categories.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 3:11 PM.
