The Kansas City Royals are in the midst of quite the pitching conundrum; they’re starting staff is simply too strong and has too much major league depth.
They need to shed weight and narrow down their options before 2026 and the thought behind it is that they’ll utilize their rotation pieces to strengthen their big league offense.
While some teams may be pushing to acquire ace Cole Ragans, the Royals seemed determined to deviate the conversation away from him.
And then there’s Bubic who, given his single remaining year of control as well as some injury concerns, might not generate the strongest return for the Royals, despite the All-Star moniker he carries.
This means that they could turn to a name like Noah Cameron to bring in their desired major league return. Now, while they may not want to trade for multiple reasons there’s equally as many strong reasons as to why he might be their best trade candidate.
2 reasons why Royals should trade Noah Cameron this winter
Cameron’s surface level stats and team control makes him the ideal trade target
Saying that Cameron’s stats were good and that’s why the Royals should cash in on him feels like a bit of cop-out answer but it’s still a notable reason nonetheless. Cameron’s trade value is at a high.
There’s no denying that Cameron stepped up in a big way during his rookie season, en route to a fourth place finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
In 138.1 innings of work, the 26-year-old southpaw threw to a 2.99 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a .214 BAA.
As much as he’d be a valued addition to this 2026 staff, given the fact they could still have the likes of Ragans and Bubic, along with Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, they could stand to lean into his value on the trade market and not feel it in their staff afterwards quite like some other teams would.
Add on top of that, the fact that he still has three years of pre-arbitration left before he even reaches his arbitration seasons means his trade value just becomes that much more enticing to capitalize on.
Cameron’s underlying metrics could signal a regression
Now while the surface level stats tell a story of dominance, his underlying metrics tell a story of mediocrity and potential regression.
Cameron was not a strikeout specialist by any means, sitting in the 33rd percentile of league arms and didn’t offset that really with a great walk rate, sitting only narrowly above-average in the 55th percentile.
Then, there’s the fact that some can make the legitimate argument Cameron was a merchant of luck in 2025. He held just a 4.07 xERA and .246 xBA which placed him in the 45th and 43rd percentile respectively. He also sported a 4.18 FIP for a 1.19-point difference from his ERA.
And while he wasn’t surrendering much quality contact, with a 73rd percentile hard-hit rate and 81st percentile barrel rate, he wasn’t great at keeping the ball on the ground, sitting in just the 51st percentile in GB%. Groundballs aren’t the be-all-end-all for pitcher, but given how he’s not strikeout oriented, it’s not the greatest makeup for a successful pitcher in today’s league to have.
If 2025 was a somewhat a fluke and Cameron can’t continue to be a sub-3.00 ERA arm in 2026, then perhaps the Royals should hedge their bets now and cash in while his value is potentially at it’s highest.
2 reasons why Royals shouldn’t trade Noah Cameron this winter
Cameron has an exceptionally deep pitch arsenal
Now for the reasons to stay.
One of the contributing factors as to why Cameron posted a 2.99 ERA last season was due to how he was keeping hitters on their toes with a deep and diverse pitch mix.
He essentially threw the kitchen sink at the opposition, sporting five pitches with a usage rate of at least 14%.
Four of those pitches (his four seamer, curverball, changeup and slider) all sported BAA clips below .233 and the latter three of those pitches (curveball, changeup, slider) saw sub-.400 SLG rates.
If he’s not going to be as successful through his underlying metrics, at least he’s shown he can keep hitters honest with a deep arsenal.
Pitch mixes like this don’t come along everyday.
Cameron is an easy Royal to market
Now we move off the field somewhat and think of what Cameron can mean to this organization as a whole as person.
What made Cameron so special during his debut is the fact that he grew up wtaching the Royals as a St. Joseph, Missouri native.
Joining other names like current top prospect Carter Jensen – a Kansas City, Missouri native himself – Cameron brings even more of that local northwest flair to their roster moving forward.
Fans love a good story to root behind, and one of the easiest one’s is hometown success stories occurring with the hometown team. If Cameron weren’t performing the way he has so far in his big league career, this point would be entirely moot. However, organizational homegrown talent is the type of story fans can rally around.
Never underestimate the power of the hometown kid to win over the hearts of the fanbase.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
