In 32 starts and 186.1 IP, the left-hander struck out 223 batters and posted an ERA of 3.14 and 1.14 WHIP. He also posted a 2.99 FIP and accumulated 4.9 fWAR, showing that he was not just a strikeout artist but also an incredibly valuable pitcher. As a result, Ragans finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting that season and also made the All-Star team for the first time in his career.
Things regressed a little for him in 2025, though the vast majority of it was due to injury. Ragans made only 13 starts and pitched 61.2 innings due to a groin strain (initially in May) and then a rotator cuff strain, which put him on the 60-Day IL from June 11 to September 17.
However, when he returned from the IL, Ragans looked like his 2024 self. In three starts and 13 IP in September, he posted a 2.77 ERA, a 0.77 WHIP, and struck out 22 batters. Overall, in 2025, the former Rangers draft pick posted a high 4.67 ERA. That said, his FIP was much better at 2.50, and he also produced a K rate of 38.1% and a 30.4% K-BB%, both better than his rates in 2024.
When Ragans is healthy, the Royals are a much better team. It is likely that if he were fully healthy in 2025, they would’ve been much better than their 82-win record and could have surpassed their 2024 86-win mark.
Thus, what should Royals and baseball fans expect from Ragans in 2026? What does he need to improve, especially from a year ago? And what has Ragans’ spring performance been like so far in Cactus League play?
Let’s take a look at the answers to those three questions concerning the two-time Royals Opening Day starter.
Ragans’ Pitch Quality and Mix Make Him Elite
Ragans has always been a pitcher who heavily relies on his four-seamer for success. Last year, he threw the four-seamer 49.5% of the time. That was a 7.8% increase in usage from the previous year and a career high at the MLB level, as shown below in his pitch% chart from Baseball Savant.
Last year, using the four-seamer more seemed to make sense for Ragans. The pitch generated a whiff rate of 28.6%, a put-away rate of 23.1%, and had an xwOBA of .286. That was better than all his marks in those categories from the previous season.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.justbaseball.com ’
