Judging trades one month in is often a fool’s errand. But the Kansas City Royals sure have to be feeling good about the deal they made last month with the San Diego Padres.
It appeared the Padres were desperate for a new starting catcher, and the Royals had the best they could find at the deadline. For Freddy Fermin, who was essentially splitting time with Salvador Perez in Kansas City, the Royals got an impressive deal.
Kansas City picked up two right-handed pitchers with rookie eligibility. One, Stephen Kolek, has yet to debut at the major league level in his new organization. But the other is mowing down the opposition and looking like a fixture of the Royals’ rotation for the next six years.
Ryan Bergert, who was a top-10 organizational prospect and made 11 appearances in the majors with the Padres, has been everything the Royals could have hoped he’d be. But through four starts, he hadn’t been rewarded for his excellent outings with a win.
That finally changed on Wednesday evening, as Kansas City pummeled the lowly Chicago White Sox by a score of 12-1, and Bergert pitched six efficient innings to cruise to his first Royals victory.
“Finally, a quality start,” Bergert joked, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. “Finally got past that sixth inning. It was really fun.”
Indeed, Bergert pitched into the sixth inning in each of his first four Royals starts, but because the games were all tight, manager Matt Quatraro played the matchups and went to his bullpen. This time, with the game already in hand, Bergert was allowed to finish the job.
Now, through 28 1/3 innings in a Royals uniform, the 25-year-old is sporting a 2.54 ERA. Small sample size, of course, but when you watch Bergert pitch, you see a steady demeanor, the ability to keep hitters off balance, and a lot of moxie in tight spots.
That’s the type of pitcher you can easily slot into the middle of your rotation for the next half-decade. And for the price of a mid-tier catcher, when the Royals’ farm system is full of great catching talent, it sure looks like they made the right move from a value perspective.
Meanwhile, Fermin has a .632 OPS in 20 games for the Padres so far.
More MLB: MLB Insider Sounds Alarm On Royals’ Lack Of Lineup Depth: ‘Biggest Concern’
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
