Royals Recall Eric Cerantola For MLB Debut
The Royals announced Wednesday that righty Eric Cerantola has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha. Right-hander Stephen Kolek was optioned back to Omaha to make space on the active roster. Cerantola will be making his major league debut when he first takes the mound.
Kansas City drafted the now-26-year-old Cerantola in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. The former Mississippi State righty worked as a starter in the Royals system in 2021-22 before moving to the bullpen in 2023. The Royals selected Cerantola to the 40-man roster in Nov. 2024 in order to shield him from the Rule 5 Draft after a ’24 campaign in which he pitched 72 2/3 innings with a 2.97 ERA, a big 31.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 15.5% walk rate.
Cerantola didn’t make his debut last year, instead spending the season in Triple-A, where he pitched 49 innings with a 4.04 ERA, a 29.6% strikeout rate and an improved (but still too high) 11.3% walk rate. It’s not an overly compelling season from a statistical standpoint, but Cerantola averaged 95 mph on his heater and has garnered plus-plus (70 on the 20-80 scale) grades for his slider over at FanGraphs, where he ranked 28th among K.C. farmhands to begin the season.
Cerantola has gotten out to a terrific start in 2026. He’s pitched 12 2/3 innings of relief and held opposing hitters to just two runs (1.42 ERA) on 10 hits and six walks. He’s fanned exactly one third of the batters he’s faced (18 of 54) and logged a colossal 21.1% swinging-strike thanks largely to that double-plus breaking ball. Command has always been an issue for him and probably will continue to be against major league hitters, but Cerantola adds a nice bat-missing, power arm to a Royals bullpen that currently ranks 21st in strikeout rate and 24th in ERA.
This is the second of three minor league option years for Cerantola. He can be freely sent back to Omaha both this year and next. Given the shaky performance from the Royals’ bullpen overall, there’s plenty of opportunity to earn a long-term spot in the bullpen before Cerantola exhausts his final two option years. He’ll be controllable for at least six seasons beyond the current campaign.
Royals Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster
The Royals have selected left-hander Noah Cameron, right-hander Luinder Avila, and right-hander Eric Cerantola to their 40-man roster ahead of this evening’s Rule 5 Draft protection deadline, per a team announcement. No corresponding moves were necessary, and the club’s 40-man roster now stands at 37 players.
Cameron, 25, was a seventh-round pick by the Royals in 2021. A starter at every level of the minors so far, the southpaw struggled badly in his first taste of Double-A action last year but made significant strides this year. After seeing Cameron pitch to a solid 3.63 ERA in 16 starts at that level, the Royals promoted him to Triple-A where he really took off over nine starts down the stretch. In 54 1/3 Triple-A innings, Cameron posted a 2.32 ERA while striking out 29% of opponents and walking just 5.1%. That late-season breakout at the highest level of the minors surely made it an easy decision to roster the lefty ahead of today’s protection deadline.
Avila, 23, signed with the Royals out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2018. The righty moved to stateside ball in 2021 as a starting pitcher and has generally stayed in that role throughout his time in the minors. This year, Avila made 19 starts for the club’s Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, pitching to a solid 3.81 ERA in 82 2/3 innings of work with a 22.9% strikeout rate. That earned Avila a promotion to Triple-A, though he was shelled for five runs in 4 1/3 innings of work in his lone start at the level this year. Even so, the Royals evidently decided he was close enough to the majors to warrant protection from the Rule 5 Draft next month.
Cerantola, 24, was selected by Kansas City in the fifth-round of the 2021 draft. The right-hander has mostly acted as a multi-inning reliever throughout his time in the minors and posted big strikeout numbers in Double-A this year, punching out 31.7% of opponents faced. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by an untenable 16.2% walk rate. The right-hander’s 2.78 ERA in 58 1/3 innings at the level earned him a midseason promotion to Triple-A, but those underlying issues remained following the promotion. In 14 1/3 frames at the minors’ highest level, Cerantola walked 12.5% of opponents but made up for it with a 31.3% strikeout rate while posting a 3.77 ERA for the Royals’ Omaha affiliate. As an upper-minors relief prospect with impressive stuff, it’s hardly a surprise the Royals decided to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft rather than risk a team attempting to stash him in their bullpen next year.