The Royals announced that they have avoided arbitration with right-hander Kyle Wright and also signed new deals with lefties Evan Sisk and Noah Cameron. Wright’s deal is for $1.8MM, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The salaries for Sisk and Cameron haven’t been reported but they are pre-arb players and likely set to make something near the $760K league minimum.
Wright’s $1.8MM salary is the same he made in 2024. He missed the entire season while recovering from a shoulder surgery he underwent in October of 2023, still with Atlanta at that time. It was known that he wasn’t going to be a factor this year but the Royals traded for him anyway in a long-play move.
Under the arbitration system, a player’s salary almost never goes down, so the Royals had likely planned on something like this. Wright can be retained through 2026, so they have effectively committed $3.6MM over a two-year period to get his services in 2025, with a chance at keeping him around another year as well.
There’s risk coming off a notable surgery and lost season but Wright will be a bargain at those price points if he can get back to his 2022 form. That year, he tossed 180 1/3 innings across 30 starts for Atlanta. He allowed 3.19 earned runs per nine with a 23.2% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 55.6% ground ball rate. His shoulder problems limited him to a 6.97 ERA in 31 innings in 2023 before the surgery wiped out the entire 2024 campaign.
The Royals had a strong rotation this year but just traded Brady Singer to the Reds to get Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer. They currently have Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha in three rotation spots. Assuming Wright is healthy and back in form, he’ll be a strong candidate for a back-end spot. His competition will likely come from Kris Bubic and Alec Marsh. Bubic missed most of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery but returned this year and posted strong numbers out of the bullpen. Marsh had a solid 4.53 ERA at the back of the rotation in 2024, logging 129 innings.
I appreciate that thumb nail shot of him haha
Haha, same. Smoking a celebratory cigar as a Royal when I don’t think he’s thrown a pitch for them yet. Not hating on him, just a funny tableau.
He looks like a rapper in a music video.
What a strange career Kyle Wright has had. Hopefully he’s healthy and can recapture some of that 2022 magic.
It’s wild following these top prospects at times ! He was a top 10 in all of baseball at one time I think. Yet can’t even justify a 2 mil salary in his second arb year. Crazy !
The Braves cost themselves over 10 mil in prospect capital keeping him too long. And they did that with sooo many other prospects from that time frame.
His 2022 season was incredible, and he played a big part in the Braves world series win in 2021. But all his other major league experience has been awful.
Never forget in kelenic we trust
Wright will probably beat out marsh but will have a return season like walker buehler
what do you mean new deal with sisk and cameron? were their contracts not selected over the winter to protect them from the 40man, guaranteeing them rookie contracts?
I was also confused
Image gives Jay Cutler vibes
As a Braves fan, I really hope Wright comes back strong next year! Make us miss you Kyle!
Kyle Wright had one of those breaking balls before his injury that made me shake my head. The phenomenal stuff doesn’t always play out well, sometimes it’s the banal grinder that gets the wins, but Kyle Wright is a nice player with a lot of potential.
Every time I see the last name Wright I think “That knuckleballer is back” Then I think he must be 40 now so it can’t be him. Steven Wright. Moral of the story is knuckleballer’s literally throw magic and I need to get off this plain before my liver explodes.