Royals Injury Update: Vinnie Pasquantino IL chances, Cole Ragans setback, Kris Bubic shoulder

It’s probably safe to say that few teams are being bit by the injury bug quite like the Royals right now. Over half of their starting rotation sits on the injured list at the moment, as well as two key members of their bullpen and both their starting second baseman and center fielder. On top of that multiple key depth names have also had their seasons ended early. It’s hard to really compete when fielding a banged up roster like that.

Now, they have gotten a bit “lucky” in recent weeks, with names like Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. avoiding the IL entirely for their ailments and Seth Lugo only landing on the 7-day concussion IL after his terrifying incident on the mound this week. However, that luck may’ve run out on Saturday after Vinnie Pasquantino was lifted from their game against Houston early due to a right hand/hamate injury according to the team.

As reported by Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star, according to manager Matt Quatraro this wasn’t a lingering issue for Pasquantino beforehand, however it could come with some dreaded consequences.

“We’re going to know more tomorrow,” Quatraro told Thompson. “But we anticipate it being an IL situation.”

The loss of Pasquantino is certainly ill-timed. While the Royals first baseman struggled to find his footing early on in the season, he’d recently turned a corner at the dish. Since May 29, Pasquantino is slashing .310/.394/.431 with one homer, nine RBI, a 12.1% walk rate to a 13.6% K-rate and a 129 wRC+.

Cole Ragans suffers yet another grim setback in his road to recovery

After already experiencing a setback following a rehab start several weeks ago, the injury news on Ragans continues to get worse.

The ace has been on the IL since early May with an elbow impingement and it doesn’t seem optimitic to think he’ll be off it anytime soon. According to Quatraro, Ragans will undergo further testing after waking up “not feeling as well arm-wise”.

“We’re going to get him some more testing in the next couple of days,” Quatraro told MLB.com’s Drew Davison.

The loss of Ragans isn’t anything new for the Royals considering he spent much of the season on the shelf last year with both a groin and shoulder injury. That being said, given his peak as a Cy Young-caliber arm, as made evident by his fourth place finish in AL voting for the award back in 2024, they are certainly better off when he’s healthy. Given the fact he joins the likes of Bubic and Lugo on the injured list, it makes matters that much more grim for the Royals.

Kris Bubic suffers whole new type of injury after rehabbing injured elbow

We round things off still in the rotation, as anyone anticipating a return from the IL for Kris Bubic in the near future shouldn’t get their hopes too high.

According to manger Matt Quatraro, Bubic will no longer make his scheduled rehab start on Sunday in Omaha, not because of his elbow, but because of his shoulder now.

“His forearm feels good, (but) his shoulder didn’t respond as well to the previous start,” Quatraro said to Thompson. “So he is going to see a doctor sometime this weekend, and we’ll know more at that point.”

The alarming thing about this injury update in particular is that this isn’t the first time Bubic has dealt with a shoulder injury in recent memory. Last season, his All-Star campaign was cut short not long after the Midsummer Classic with a left rotator cuff strain.

This season, the Royals southpaw has been on the shelf since May 15. While he wasn’t having a season reminiscent of his All-Star efforts a year ago – throwing to a 4.11 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, he was still certainly a serviceable mid-rotation member to the Royals.

On top of that, this really puts a damper in potential trade talks, as the impending free agent had already been drawing some buzz around the league ahead of the upcoming summer trade deadline.