Promising prospect’s strong debut may have saved his spot in Royals bullpen

Some questions arose regarding certain arms in the pitching staff during the Kansas City Royals’ 8-7 loss to the Washington Nationals in Wednesday’s mid-week series finale.

However, it wasn’t all doom on gloom in Kansas City. They still came out with a crucial series win and in the process, still received some inspiring performances despite being on the losing end of Wednesday’s proceedings.

After being promoted to the the majors on Monday after Hunter Harvey’s unfortunate return to the injured list, Luinder Avila – MLB Pipeline’s 14th ranked Royals prospect – made his big league debut Wednesday and dazzled in doing so.

Luinder Avila’s strong debut on Wednesday may have secured him a longer-term role in the Royals bullpen

Avila came on in the eighth inning when the Royals were down 7-6 at the time and promptly sat down the side in order.

His devastating curveball was working drawing plenty of swing and misses and he was mixing in his 96 mph fastball and cutter well as complementary offerings.

It was the ideal first impression for Avila to make, as the Royals pitching situation is about to become a lot more interesting in next days/weeks.

Come Saturday, as per a report from Anne Rogers from MLB.com, Royals’ manager Matt Quatraro has said veteran starter Michael Lorenzen will be returning from the injured list to start on Saturday, with Bailey Falter moving from the rotation to the bullpen to facilitate the move.

But that will mean the Royals will have to send someone down to Omaha. And before Wednesday, the starter turned reliever in Avila would’ve likely been atop the list of candidates who could be on their way back to Triple-A.

This very well could very well be the case, considering his three remaining options and limited big league experience make him the easiest name to logistically send down to the minors.

But his remarkable debut at least made the conversation a more difficult one. And it would it really be a shock if Kansas City wanted to see more of the promising prospect at he big league level?

Falter’s move to the ‘pen adds another lefty to the fold, thus bringing another potential candidate into the demotion conversation, Sam Long. While he’s looked somewhat improved since returning from a lengthy early season IL stint, the reality is that Long is still sporting a 7.11 ERA, 1.66 WHIP and .272 BAA and is only a few days removed from a rougher two-run outing in his inning of work on Tuesday.

Now, he doesn’t have any options remaining so this would be more than just a straight demotion as they’d need to DFA him. This brings into question how much the Royals really value Long’s services, because if they feel they’ve hit their peak with the southpaw, Avila suddenly becomes a more intriguing option to remain.

Official clarity on this matter will come in the next few days when roster moves are made as names start returning, but one thing is for sure, it seems Avila has done his part warrant his continued stay in the big leagues.