Promising Royals pitching prospect humbled in first start at Triple-A

While some prospects like Jac Caglianone might rapidly ascend to the major leagues in under a year, for a majority of prospects the minor leagues are much more of a marathon than a sprint.

With a marathon journey comes growing pains, and one of the Royals’ top 10 prospects experienced those growing pains fresh of a brand new promotion.

Ben Kudrna, the Royals’ No. 7 overall prospect according MLB Pipeline, took the mound for the Omaha Strom Chasers on Wednesday night for his first start at the Triple-A level.

And while the outing had it’s highs, it certainly had it’s lows too, serving as a “welcome to the new level” type moment.

Ben Kudrna’s first start at the Triple-A level was a humbling experience

Things couldn’t have really started better, as other than a walk, Kudrna looked exceptionally sharp striking out the side in his first frame with Omaha. And it wasn’t just any three strikeouts against any minor league bat, he was getting major league proven hitters like Jhonkensy Noel swinging.

Then, come the second inning, Kudrna sat down the side in order and surrendered just a hit in both the third and fourth innings.

When the fifth inning came around though, that’s when the wheels came off for the young right-hander. Extra base hits were his kryptonite in the inning as a pair of homers and an RBI-double saw the Columbus Clippers plate five runs in the frame.

After such a promising first four innings, Kudrna would be brought down to earth in the last 1.1 innings, as he ended his Triple-A debut with five earned runs off five hits, five walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work, giving him an 8.44 ERA to carry into his second start.

Now, slow starts aren’t new to Kudrna as it took him until mid-June to really get his footing in Double-A Northwest Arkansas this season.

There was enough top 10-pedigree displayed in Kudrna’s Strom Chasers debut to still be excited about if your the Royals front office, but it was evident that there are still plenty of adjustments that need to be made and development that needs to happen with Kudrna before they can start dreaming about his arrival to the major leagues.

Again though, the minor league development process is a marathon and Kudrna will have the chance to get back on course next week.