Kansas City Royals’ Brady Singer must shake off disappointment of going to the bullpen
From the time the Kansas City Royals drafted Brady Singer, he’s been the lead dog of their bevy of talented young starting pitching prospects. It remained that way right up through and including his debut in the majors in 2020.
Now, Singer will, at least temporarily, step aside as he begins this season in the bullpen for the first time in his professional career.
He still aims to be a starting pitcher in the majors, and the Royals maintain they still view him as a starter in the long run. For now, he’ll be one of multiple pitchers manager Mike Matheny and his staff will consider like Swiss Army knives.
“Obviously, I want to be a starter and all that,” Singer said of going to the bullpen. “But it’s where I’m going to help the team, so that’s where I’m going to be.”
Singer, 25, could be called on in a variety of situations depending upon what’s needed at a given moment.
Last season, Singer made the second-most starts (27) of any pitcher on the club. He went 5-10 with a 4.91 ERA, 131 strikeouts, 53 walks, a 1.55 WHIP and a .281 opponent’s batting average in 128 1/3 innings.
During spring training, he built up to be able to pitch multiple-inning outings.
“A different role than I’ve ever done,” Singer said prior to Saturday’s game at Kauffman Stadium. “I think Mike kind of mentioned the hybrid role, long or short or whatever they need.”
The Royals’ first pick (18th overall) in the 2018 MLB Draft out of the University of Florida, Singer moved quickly through the minors.
He split time at High-A Wilmington and Double-A Northwest Arkansas in 2019, his first professional season.
Then, after being invited to big-league spring training in 2020, he made the club coming out of Spring Training 2.0 when baseball resumed following the coronavirus outbreak.
He became the first of the Royals’ 2018 draft class, which included Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar and Jonathan Heasley, to debut in the majors.
While heavily reliant on a two-pitch mix of fastball and slider, Singer still showed flashes of brilliance in his two seasons in the starting rotation (2020 and 2021).
His best outing came against Cleveland on the road during the 2020 season when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning on Sept. 10. He lost the no-hit bid, but pitched eight scoreless and allowed one hit, two walks and struck out eight.
Among pitchers who made their major-league debuts in 2020, Singer ranks first in starts (39) and innings (192 2/3).
“Of course, absolutely. It definitely was (disappointing),” Singer said of not winning a job in the rotation this spring. “But it’s where they want me to help the team win so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Kowar, Singer’s college teammate, also moved to the bullpen at the start of this season after having been the club’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season.
The Royals five-man rotation to start the season includes Zack Greinke, Brad Keller, Carlos Hernández, Bubic and Lynch.
“It’s not what he came in here for,” Matheny said of Singer’s reaction to the move. “You can’t expect him to be excited about it. He’s excited about being on this team. He’s excited about being able to help us to win.
“But you go in as a starter for the last two years, that’s hard. We acknowledge that, but still let him know how we see him — as a starter. This is where we are right now. We’ve got a commitment to this club to do what we think is best to help us win right now.”
