Here’s why pitcher Ryan Yarbrough and the Kansas City Royals appear to be a good fit
Coming off of a “humbling” year marred by a pair of injuries and a season that included being optioned to the minors and ultimately designated for assignment this winter, Ryan Yarbrough joins the Kansas City Royals with plenty to prove and no lack of motivation.
The former Tampa Bay Rays left-handed pitcher signed a one-year contract with the Royals on Tuesday, and he joined the club with no role promised to him.
However, his track record indicates he’ll be a candidate for the starting rotation. Yarbrough has both started and relieved in his career, including in pennant races as well as the postseason.
For the Royals’ front office, Yarbrough’s signing checked multiple boxes.
“A big objective for us this offseason was to add to our pitching staff, in particular, guys that had experience. Ryan certainly represents that,” Royals executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo said on Wednesday.
“He’s had a chance to pitch in a lot of big games. He’s been in a tough division his entire career. The thing I think we like the most is he has logged innings. He has shown the ability to take the ball.”
Yarbrough’s combination of experience in the majors and versatility were traits that Picollo had openly coveted this winter.
As recently as this month’s MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego, Picollo professed intentions to add a swing-type pitcher who could start or pitch out of the bullpen effectively.
Yarbrough’s addition also signals the Royals’ desire to address some glaring shortcomings in the pitching staff’s performance last season.
“The things that stand out,” Picollo said. “He throws strikes. He has a very low walk percentage. He commands the ball. There’s a lot of soft contact. And it’s a very, very high strike percentage.”
For his career in the majors, Yarbrough’s strikeout-to-walk ratio has been 3.56-to-1. He has a career walk percentage of 5.4% and a walk rate of 2.09 per 9 innings. His hard-hit rate has ranked among the lowest (top 6 percent) among pitchers in the majors in each of his five seasons.
Last season, the Royals ranked near or at the bottom of the majors in walks (590, 29th), walks per 9 (3.74, 29th) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.02, 30th).
Yarbrough gets a fresh start with the Royals, a team that he said showed strong interest from the front office to the coaching staff.
“An opportunity to log a lot of innings,” Yarbrough said of what he sought. “I know nothing is really guaranteed in this game. It’s just the chance to be able to come in and really fight for a starting spot and really just be out there and be competitive and really help the team out in any way possible.”
Yarbrough played on a Rays squad whose coaching staff included new Royals manager Matt Quatraro and new bench coach Paul Hoover. Yarbrough heard from Quatraro and new pitching coach Brian Sweeney, as well as the KC front office, as the Royals pursued him.
Two separate stints on the injured list last season, including at the end of the season, left a bad taste in Yarbrough’s mouth. Durability had been his calling card in previous seasons.
Yarbrough described the start of the 2022 season as “frustrating,” as a groin injury in April set him back all season. He also had an oblique injury in September.
Not being as healthy as he’d hoped and then getting optioned to the minors multiple times led him to characterize the year as a “punch to the gut.”
For his career, Yarbrough has gone 40-31 with a 4.33 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, 2.0 walks per 9 innings, 7.3 strikeouts per 9 innings, a .253 opponent batting average and 579 2/3 innings in 127 appearances (59 starts).
Last season, he went 3-8 with a 4.50 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, 2.5 walks per 9 innings, 6.9 strikeouts per 9 innings, a .276 opponent batting average and 80 innings in 20 appearances (nine starts).
“I’m really just trying to do everything I can to help them win ballgames and, obviously, do everything I can to prove last year wasn’t who I am,” Yarbrough said. “It was just one of those years where injury kind of caught up to me at the beginning, and I was trying to play catch-up. Then things didn’t go my way.
“There’s no blaming anyone but myself. It’s just a matter of putting my best foot forward and getting back to being really competitive.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 1:37 PM.
