The Kansas City Royals have struggled this season. The idea that Cole Ragans could potentially return soon from injury gave them some hope, but the starting pitcher recently received an unfortunate injury update.
Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported on Monday that Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Ragans did not bounce back well from his recent rehab start. The pitcher reportedly felt similar symptoms with his elbow as before and he is expected to be shut down for two to three days before being re-evaluated.
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Of course, anytime a pitcher is battling an elbow injury, teams are going to be especially cautious. They will not want to risk further injury.
It now remains to be seen when Ragans will return. While he struggled earlier in the 2026 campaign, he still features the ceiling of one of the best pitchers in the game. Kansas City certainly needs him on the mound in order to turn their season around.
Ragans turned in a 4.84 ERA before landing on the injured list. The pitcher finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting in 2024, however. The ball club knows how talented he is and how good he can be when he is on top of his game.
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For now, the Royals will continue to monitor and provide updates on Cole Ragans’ injury status as they are made available.
At 22-31, the Royals are in fourth place in the American League Central standings right now. Kansas City was expected to compete with the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers for first place in the division.
While Cleveland currently leads the AL Central, the Tigers are in last place at the moment. Both Kansas City and Detroit have clearly underperformed. However, both teams are currently without their best pitchers, as Tarik Skubal is also injured for the Tigers.
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It is only May, so the Royals could turn things around. Of course, the sooner Ragans is able to return, the better chance Kansas City will have of getting back on track. With that being said, the Royals have time to figure things out.
For now, the Royals are focused on their upcoming series against the New York Yankees. New York has had a good season, so it will be a challenging series for the ball club. The first game is scheduled to begin at 3:40 PM EST on Monday afternoon.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
