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Royals To Place Ryan Bergert On Injured List With Forearm Tightness

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Royals starter Ryan Bergert is headed to the 15-day injured list, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). The rookie right-hander reported forearm tightness during his standard bullpen session between starts. It’ll bring an early end to the 25-year-old’s debut season.

Michael Lorenzen, who tossed an inning in relief of Cole Ragans during tonight’s win over Seattle, will start on Friday against the Blue Jays. A series of rotation injuries sealed the Royals’ fate on the outside of the playoff picture. Ragans made his first start in more than three months. Seth Lugo has been out for three weeks with a back issue. An off-field concussion cost Michael Wacha a start. The Royals have dropped to 76-76 and figure to be officially eliminated from postseason contention by the end of the weekend.

As a result, they’ll play things cautiously with Bergert. Kansas City acquired him and Stephen Kolek from the Padres for backup catcher Freddy Fermin in an under-the-radar deadline deal. Bergert allowed one or two runs in each of his first six starts in a K.C. uniform. His final two outings were less impressive. The Guardians tagged him for eight runs in 3 1/3 frames on September 8, and he surrendered three runs in four innings in Philadelphia on Saturday.

It’s not the manner in which Bergert hoped to close the year. He had a promising season overall, turning in a 3.66 ERA while striking out 22.6% of batters faced over 76 1/3 innings. The West Virginia product has yet to reach a year of service time. Assuming he’s healthy, he’ll head into Spring Training with a shot at his first Opening Day roster. K.C. currently has a projected rotation of Ragans, Lugo, Wacha, Kris Bubic and Noah Cameron going into next season. Bergert, Kolek, Alec Marsh and Bailey Falter could compete alongside an offseason acquisition or two to be the top depth arm in the event of a Spring Training injury.

Royals Activate Cole Ragans From 60-Day Injured List

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Sept 17: The Royals have formally reinstated Ragans from the 60-day IL. Righty Luinder Avila was optioned to Triple-A Omaha to open a spot on the active roster. Ragans’ reinstatement brings Kansas City’s 40-man roster to capacity.

Sept. 16: The Royals will reinstate left-hander Cole Ragans from the 60-day injured list tomorrow, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Kansas City already has an open 40-man roster spot, so unless there are other 40-man moves coming in conjunction with Ragans’ return, they’ll only need to clear a spot on the active roster.

Ragans, 28 this offseason, has been out more than three months due to a strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder. His absence has been a major reason for Kansas City’s slide in the standings and the team’s all but certain elimination from playoff contention, although Ragans certainly hasn’t been the only rotation member to run into health woes this year.

Kris Bubic’s own rotator cuff strain ended his season in late July. Seth Lugo has had IL stints due to both finger and lower back injuries. Michael Lorenzen missed more than a month with an oblique strain. Michael Wacha has been on the concussion list for the past week but is expected to return for tonight’s game. Alec Marsh hasn’t pitched all season due to a shoulder impingement. It’s a far cry from the 2024 season, when the Royals improbably had four pitchers make at least 29 starts (and five make at least 25 starts).

Still, the loss of Ragans has arguably been the most damaging. The southpaw was sitting on an ugly 5.18 ERA in ten starts when healthy, although much of the damage against him came in his final three starts before landing on the IL with this shoulder issue. Ragans carried a 3.79 ERA into mid-May and reached double-digit strikeout figures in four of his first seven starts of the season. And, of course, the lefty’s 2024 breakout was one of the driving forces behind the Royals’ return to the postseason. Ragans pitched 186 1/3 innings with a 3.14 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate across 32 starts last year, garnering an All-Star nod and fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting for his efforts.

At 75-75, the Royals haven’t been mathematically eliminated from the postseason just yet, but they’re 6.5 games out in the AL Wild Card chase with 12 games left to play. It’d take a borderline miracle for them to sneak into the field. Even with little to play for in terms of 2025 results, however, Ragans’ return gives him the chance to head into the offseason feeling that his shoulder troubles are behind him. If he looks sharp in two starts between now and season’s end, Kansas City would surely feel a bit better about its staff heading into next year. Ragans posted a 4.35 ERA and punched out 20 of the 43 hitters he faced (46.5%) across three minor league starts while rehabbing in recent weeks.

Royals Place Michael Wacha On Concussion List

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The Royals placed starter Michael Wacha on the seven-day concussion injured list before tonight’s game against the Guardians. The move is retroactive to September 8. Jonathan India is back after a minimal 10-day IL stay for a sprained wrist as the corresponding move.

Wacha was injured in an off-field accident, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers). The Royals believe it’s a minor issue but it will cost him at least one start. Wacha had been lined up for tomorrow. That starter is now to be determined in what’ll probably be a bullpen game.

Kansas City doesn’t have any healthy starters on optional assignment. They could select Spencer Turnbull onto the 40-man roster for a spot appearance, but he’s only made one Triple-A start since signing a minor league deal in late August. Turnbull had allowed more than a run per inning over six Triple-A appearances in the Cubs’ system before that. Wacha is their sixth starting pitcher on the injured list (seventh if one includes Kyle Wright, who is on the 40-man roster but on the minor league IL).

They’re currently down to a four-man group of Michael Lorenzen, Noah Cameron, Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert as they try to hang in the Wild Card mix. Bergert has been pretty good since coming over from San Diego in a deadline trade but got blown up last night (eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings). Cameron is on the bump tonight, while Kolek has already been tabbed for Thursday’s series finale. Lorenzen would be on schedule for Friday’s opener in Philadelphia.

The Royals enter tonight’s game three back of the Mariners for the American League’s final playoff spot. They’d also need to jump the Rangers and Guardians along the way. It feels pivotal that they take at least two of the final three games of their ongoing series in Cleveland — a task that gets quite a bit more difficult without Wacha on the mound tomorrow. The veteran righty carries a 3.45 earned run average across 28 starts and a team-leading 159 innings.

Cole Ragans is at Triple-A Omaha on a rehab stint as he works back from a three-month shoulder injury. Seth Lugo went down with a lower back strain last week. They were already without Kris Bubic for the season. Wacha’s injury seems minor enough that any or all of him, Ragans and Lugo could make it back in the next week or two. It remains to be seen if K.C. can find a way to hang in the playoff picture long enough for that to matter.

AL Central Notes: Ragans, Sewald, Olson, Brennan

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Cole Ragans is set to begin a rehab assignment on Sunday, with a scheduled two-inning start planned with Triple-A Omaha.  It has now been over three months since Ragans was sidelined by a rotator cuff strain, and if the southpaw is able to make it back to the Royals rotation before the season is over, it won’t be in a full-fledged starting role.  “We know we don’t have the time to get him built up to five or six innings,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star), indicating that Ragans would still be a starter, but perhaps in a piggyback capacity or as the lead pitcher of a bullpen game.

Seth Lugo was just placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week due to a back strain, and Kris Bubic’s season was ended by a rotator cuff strain in late July.  Despite these and other injuries, the Royals’ pitching staff has still been the biggest factor in keeping the team afloat in the wild card race, as Kansas City’s offense has remained inconsistent.  If the Royals can stick around in the playoff hunt until late September, getting Ragans back in even a limited capacity might be a huge boost in helping K.C. return to the postseason.

More from around the AL Central…

  • Paul Sewald began a rehab assignment with the Tigers’ high-A affiliate on Thursday.  Sewald hasn’t pitched since July 11 when he was still a member of the Guardians, and his placement on Detroit’ 60-day IL means that he can’t be activated until September 10 at the absolute earliest.  Though Sewald remains on the mend with a right shoulder strain, the Tigers felt comfortable enough in his ability to return this season that the righty was acquired from the Guards at the deadline.  Shoulder problems have limited Sewald to only 15 1/3 innings this season, and he has a 4.42 ERA over his last 55 MLB frames with Cleveland and Arizona during the 2024-25 campaigns.
  • Turning to another pitcher on the Tigers’ 60-day injured list, Reese Olson has started a throwing progression as he works his way back from his own right shoulder strain.  Ramping up throwing work now might give Olson a chance at making a playoff roster — he was placed directly on the 60-day IL on July 28, so he is only eligible to return for the last couple of games of Detroit’s regular-season schedule.  Even the slightest setback would almost surely shut Olson down for 2025 entirely, and even if healthy, it remains to be seen if the Tigers would entrust a playoff roster spot to a pitcher coming off such a long layoff.  Olson has pitched well as a starter over his three seasons in Motown, but would likely be used as a reliever in the playoffs since he doesn’t have enough time to fully rebuild his arm strength.
  • Guardians outfielder Will Brennan underwent a sports hernia surgery to correct a lingering groin injury, according to MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins.  Brennan’s 2025 season was already over due to a Tommy John surgery back in June, but even after the TJ procedure and his latest surgery, Brennan is expected to be ready for the start of Cleveland’s spring camp in February.  The outfielder played in 252 games with the Guardians in a part-time capacity in 2023-24, but after starting 2025 in the minors and then getting injured, Brennan appeared in just six MLB contests this year.

Poll: Who Will Round Out The AL Playoff Field?

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While most of the league’s postseason races are more or less wrapped up at this point, one highly competitive race remains: that for the final AL Wild Card spot. The Yankees and Red Sox have commanding leads for the first two spots that have pushed their playoff odds (per FanGraphs) to 99.7% and 97.4% respectively, but the rest of the field remains fairly open. Three clubs are within two games of the final spot. Who will make it to October among that group? A look at each of those teams:

Seattle Mariners (73-67)

The Mariners are currently in control of the final AL Wild Card spot. Cal Raleigh is in the midst of an MVP-caliber season behind the plate, and he’s been supported by Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena in the middle of the lineup. Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez were added at the trade deadline to help further bolster the offense. Suarez slumped for his first two-plus weeks back in Seattle but is back to form, hitting .265/.345/.592 over his past 14 games.

The rotation that was widely expected to be the club’s strength, however, has looked fairly pedestrian. Only Bryan Woo has stood out from the crowd as George Kirby, Luis Castillo, and Logan Gilbert have all been closer to average starters than ace-caliber arms. Bryce Miller was injured for much of the year and has struggled when healthy. Still, the bullpen remains elite, and the club is in solid position in the standings even after this week’s sweep at the hands of the Rays. They have an outside shot at winning the AL West, sitting 3.5 games out with a three-game set against the Astros later this month. They’ll need to fend off the Royals in Kansas City for three games as well.

Texas Rangers (72-69)

Sitting just 1.5 games back of the Mariners, Texas is in position to pounce if Seattle falters. A schedule that gives them six games against Houston as they sit five games back in the AL West leaves a small chance at capturing the division or perhaps pushing the Astros far enough down the standings that the Mariners claim the West while the Rangers take the Wild Card for themselves.

Even with the advantage of controlling their own destiny, actually making good on that will be difficult for Texas. Key players like Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Tyler Mahle and Evan Carter are all on the injured list. Wyatt Langford will be leaned on heavily to help carry the offense. A resurgent Jacob deGrom and deadline acquisition Merrill Kelly are still on hand to lead the rotation, and former No. 2 pick Jack Leiter has been excellent over his past 12 starts (2.89 ERA, 28.2 K%). Will the remaining pieces of the team be enough to push them into the playoffs?

Kansas City Royals (71-69)

Like the Rangers, the Royals have managed to hang around the Wild Card race despite significant injuries. Kris Bubic and Cole Ragans have missed much of the year, and Seth Lugo has now joined them on the shelf. That leaves Michael Wacha and rookie Noah Cameron as the team’s most likely starters for the Wild Card series if they can make it into the postseason.

The good news is that the addition of Mike Yastrzemski has been a game-changer for the lineup. He’s belted seven homers in 107 plate appearances and batted .242/.327/.560 overall in Kansas City, joining Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, and Bobby Witt Jr. to form an impressive top four. Carlos Estevez and Lucas Erceg are a quality duo at the back-end of the bullpen, and three home games against the Mariners give them plenty of control over their fate.

Tampa Bay Rays (71-69)

Baseball’s hottest team has won seven games in a row, including a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle and a Thursday victory over the Guardians that pushed Cleveland 3.5 games out in the Wild Card chase. Junior Caminero is the envy of the league at third base, Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe are as impressive as ever in the middle of the lineup, and Drew Rasmussen (2.66 ERA over his past 10 starts) looks capable of going head-to-head with just about any pitcher as a Game One starter. Thirteen games against the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Cubs over the course of the rest of the season leave the Rays with plenty of adversity, but perhaps their young talent can stay hot and push them to October.

Which of these teams will come out on top and join the Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros in the postseason? Will the Mariners be able to hold on? Will the Royals or Rangers overcome their injury woes to force their way in? Or can the Rays stay hot through the end of the year? Have your say in the poll below:

Royals Place Seth Lugo On Injured List

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The Royals announced that they have placed right-hander Seth Lugo on the 15-day injured list due to a lower back strain. Righty Stephen Kolek has been recalled as the corresponding move. Prior to the official announcement, manager Matt Quatraro relayed the moves to reporters, including Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

Lugo was initially slated to start today’s game but the Royals announced yesterday that he would no longer be starting that game due to some low back tightness. Noah Cameron is taking the ball instead. Lugo could have been an option for Saturday’s game but he didn’t feel any improvement while playing catch today, so he’s going on the IL.

It’s an unfortunate and ill-timed loss for the Royals. They are 2.5 games back of a playoff spot with just a few weeks remaining in the season. They are still alive but need a lot to go right in order to catch both the Rangers and Mariners to get into postseason position.

Losing Lugo won’t help as he’s been a key part of the club’s rotation since the start of last year. He and the Royals recently agreed to a new contract extension to keep him from opting out of his deal at season’s end. Though he’s been good this year on the whole, it’s possible the back issue has been bothering him lately. Through his start on August 3rd, he had an earned run average of 3.06 on the year. Over his past five starts, he has allowed 25 earned runs in 22 innings.

Whether the back had anything to do with that recent rough stretch or not, he’ll take some time to try to get right. His IL placement is retroactive to September 1st, so he could be back in just 12 days if he feels better. That could give him a chance to make a few more starts down the stretch, though that will naturally depend upon his progress in the coming weeks.

For now, Kolek will seemingly take his spot, at least for one turn. Acquired as part of the Freddy Fermin trade at the deadline, Kolek has mostly been in the minors since that deal. He made his Royals debut on Saturday, tossing six innings with just one run crossing the plate. He was sent back down after that, as it was just supposed to be a spot start. However, his decent results and Lugo’s injury will get him at least one more. He is eligible to return less than 15 days after being optioned because Lugo is going on the IL.

Kolek had primarily been a reliever in the 2022 to 2024 seasons but has been stretched back out here in 2025. Between the Padres and Royals, he has made 15 starts with a 3.99 ERA. His 16.5% strikeout rate is subpar but his 7.3% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate are both strong figures. His Triple-A production is similar under the hood. He has made 11 starts down there with an 18.6% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 54.1% ground ball rate. However, a .400 batting average on balls in play has helped spike his ERA to 6.26 at that level.

Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images

Royals Place Jonathan India On Injured List

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The Royals announced that second baseman Jonathan India has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 30, with a sprained left wrist. Kansas City activated Jac Caglianone from his own IL stint in a corresponding move. They also finalized the previously announced promotions of catching prospect Carter Jensen and reliever Luinder Avila with the roster expansion.

It’s not clear how long the Royals expect India to be sidelined. Kansas City acquired him from the Reds for Brady Singer over the offseason. They wanted India to play a multi-positional role while serving as a high-OBP bat at the top of the lineup. He hasn’t met either expectation. India struggled in an early-season utility capacity and has been exclusively at second base or designated hitter since the middle of May. He also hasn’t hit much, leading manager Matt Quatraro to drop him from the leadoff spot to sixth or seventh in the batting order this month.

India carries a .232/.324/.342 slash with eight home runs across 532 plate appearances. His plate discipline has been fine, but a career-low .274 average on balls in play hasn’t done him any favors. It’s trending to be the worst season of his five years in the big leagues. India isn’t a great defender, so the below-average offense has left him around replacement level overall. He’s trending towards a non-tender for what’d be his final year of arbitration.

Kansas City will have Adam Frazier and Michael Massey cover second base while India is sidelined. The righty-swinging Nick Loftin could also see some time there against left-handed pitching. Frazier has proven a nice deadline pickup, batting .307 in 33 games since the Royals acquired him from Pittsburgh. Massey and Loftin have had poor seasons. Massey has at least collected hits in five of six games since returning from an ankle sprain that cost him two months, so perhaps he’ll come closer to last year’s league average form in September.

The Royals are off today. They’ll open a three-game series against the Angels tomorrow. Kansas City is three games back of Seattle for the final American League Wild Card spot. They’ve also dropped half a game behind the Rangers, who have won five straight to pull within 2.5 games of the Mariners.

Royals To Promote Carter Jensen

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With rosters expanding to 28 players tomorrow, the Royals have already announced the moves they “anticipate” making, as per the club’s wording.  First baseman/outfielder Jac Caglianone will be activated from the 10-day injured list, righty Luinder Avila will be called up from Triple-A, and catching prospect Carter Jensen’s contract will be selected from Triple-A.  Kansas City will need to subtract someone from the current 26-man roster to make space for the entire trio, but the Royals already have 40-man roster space available to accommodate Jensen.

Freddy Fermin was traded to the Padres at the deadline, and the Royals have since been using veteran Luke Maile as the backup catcher behind Salvador Perez.  Because Perez will get his share of DH days to keep his bat in the lineup, Jensen should get a decent amount of playing time behind the plate in his first taste of MLB action.  The expanded September roster allows the Royals some flexibility in keeping three catchers around, and Maile’s playing time is probably going to diminish since Jensen is a bigger future priority.

Jensen hit well enough (.292/.360/.420 in 308 PA) in Double-A ball to earn his first promotion to Triple-A earlier this summer, and he has taken it up a notch since arriving in Omaha.  Jensen has hit .288/.404/.647 in 184 Triple-A plate appearances, with already 14 home runs to show for his brief time at the top rung of the minor league ladder.  This kind of performance is hard to overlook, and it has earned the Kansas City native a late-season look with his hometown team.

A third-round pick for the Royals in the 2021 draft, Jensen is ranked 69th on MLB Pipeline’s list of baseball’s best prospects, and he sits 88th on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking.  Evaluators like Jansen’s ability to get on base, and his 2025 numbers suggest he has started to tap into his raw power.  Jensen has a good eye at the plate, but it is worth noting that his strikeout rate has shot upwards during his brief time at Triple-A.  As a catcher, Jensen has a plus throwing arm and his framing ability has been improving, and both Pipeline and BA feel he can be a solid defender.

The Royals will surely exercise their $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026, but that will also be Perez’s age-36 season, so the longtime face of the franchise will have to slow down at some point.  Beyond Jensen, Blake Mitchell is another top-100 prospect who just advanced to high-A ball this season, and Ramon Ramirez is another young backstop in the system playing at the A-ball level.

Unsurprisingly, rival teams checked in on these young catchers prior to the trade deadline, but K.C. instead pivoted by moving Fermin.  Jensen is the first of this trio to make it to the Show, so he’ll get the first crack at trying to establish himself as a big leaguer.  He’ll retain rookie eligibility heading into 2026, and thus due to Prospect Promotion Incentive eligibility, the Royals could earn an extra draft pick if Jensen stays on the active roster for the entire 2026 campaign.

A former top prospect in his own right, Caglianone will return after a left hamstring strain cost him about five weeks on the injured list.  Caglianone hit only .147/.205/.280 in his first 161 PA in the majors, so this IL stint can perhaps act as a refresh for the outfielder’s rookie year.  It remains to be seen how many at-bats Caglianone will receive for a Royals team that is fighting for a playoff berth, since deadline acquisition Mike Yastrzemski has stepped into Caglianone’s right field spot and been on a tear since arriving in Kansas City.

Royals Sign Spencer Turnbull To Minors Contract

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The Royals announced that right-hander Spencer Turnbull has been signed to a minor league contract.  Turnbull had been in the Cubs organization on another minors deal until two days ago, when he triggered an opt-out clause to obtain a release.

It has been an unusual season in many ways for Turnbull, who pitched well for the Phillies in 2024 before a lat strain cut short his year.  Heading into free agency last winter, he didn’t find an acceptable contract until well after Opening Day, when Turnbull signed with the Blue Jays to a prorated deal worth $1,265,306 (or just $1MM in remaining money).  He finally made his 2025 debut in June but struggled to a 7.11 ERA over three outings and 6 1/3 innings with Toronto before being released.

The minors deal with the Cubs didn’t result in any more MLB playing time, as Turnbull’s struggles continued with a 9.49 ERA over 24 2/3 innings with Triple-A Iowa.  Overall, Turnbull has a 7.96 ERA over 46 1/3 total minor league innings in 2025, with a lackluster 10.5% walk rate and 18.8% strikeout rate adding to his struggles.

Kansas City would owe Turnbull just the prorated portion of a Major League minimum salary for any time spent on the big league roster, with the Jays covering the remainder of what Turnbull is owed in 2025.  In that sense, there’s really no risk for the Royals in seeing if Turnbull can still turn things around late in the season, and perhaps become an option for the club’s pitching staff down the stretch.

Turnbull could potentially act as rotation depth for a team with multiple starters on the IL, though Cole Ragans may be able to make a return to the Royals some time in September.  Or, Turnbull could bolster the staff in another way by acting as a swingman or multi-inning reliever, akin to his role in Philadelphia in 2024.  This hinges on Turnbull finding his old form in at least the minors, of course, but every bit of pitching depth is helpful for a Royals team still battling for a wild card berth.

Royals Sign Geoff Hartlieb To Minor League Deal

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The Royals signed reliever Geoff Hartlieb to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Omaha. The move was announced by the Triple-A affiliate this evening.

Hartlieb was granted his release from a non-roster deal with the Tigers last week. He’s now on his third organization of the season. Hartlieb has made very brief appearances with the Yankees and Detroit. Opponents blasted him for eight runs in 3 1/3 MLB frames. The 31-year-old righty has had a much better season in Triple-A. He carries a 3.57 ERA with a near-28% strikeout rate in 45 1/3 innings at the top minor league level.

A former Pittsburgh draftee, Hartlieb has made 68 big league appearances. He has allowed nearly eight earned runs per nine over 82 2/3 career innings. He has a reasonable 4.18 ERA in parts of six Triple-A campaigns. Hartlieb leans most heavily on his mid 80s slider and has a 94-95 MPH fastball.

Hartlieb will head to Omaha as non-roster relief depth. He’ll try to pitch his way into a middle relief spot before the end of the year. He would return to minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason if the Royals don’t call him up.

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