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James McArthur took a seat at his locker in the Kansas City Royals clubhouse Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
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After a few minutes, McArthur started to put on his gear ahead of some light throwing at the spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona. He grabbed his glove and a baseball before heading out to the field.<\/p>\n
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It had been a while.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe main goal for me is to just get back on track to becoming the best pitcher I can be,\u201d McArthur said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s got to be my main focus going forward. I\u2019ve got to get back to the pitcher I was before all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Two years ago, McArthur was a major part of the Royals bullpen. He notched 18 saves in 57 games as the Royals reached the postseason in 2024. However, McArthur sustained an elbow strain in late September of that season.<\/p>\n
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The initial diagnosis<\/a> was a grade 1 ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) sprain. The following offseason, McArthur underwent surgery to place two screws to stabilize his elbow<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n McArthur figured it would be the standard recovery timeline. Yet, what he encountered was something more serious than expected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey put screws in my elbow in November of 2024 to fix a stress fracture,\u201d McArthur said. \u201cI was allergic to the metal. So the whole time we were trying to build up, I was fighting a reaction in my elbow and things just never felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n McArthur missed the entirety of Royals spring training \u2014 and ultimately the season \u2014 in 2025. The medical staff worked to understand what led to his continued discomfort. At first, McArthur had one of his screws removed due to the belief it was in a bad spot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI was super puffy,\u201d McArthur said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get too deep into it, but it\u2019s just like when they saw the image, they could see stuff in my elbow and they were like, \u2018This isn\u2019t normal.\u2019 And their only thought or best guess through imaging was that it was like bone chipping from the screw head that was sticking out of the bone just a touch.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The medical team would find out that it wasn\u2019t loose bone fragments in his elbow. Instead, it was deep tissue that was undergoing a reaction to the metal. So, McArthur had the other screw removed last July.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese guys are professionals and they have seen thousands of cases,\u201d McArthur said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s a very rare thing and that\u2019s why it was so unfortunate and just so odd that we weren\u2019t bouncing back. But we got it figured out and I\u2019m on the right track now.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n McArthur was able to start throwing again at the end of the 2025 season. He underwent a healthy offseason program and looks to build up his arm over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Royals will bring him along slowly. McArthur has thrown off the mound for a few months and is hopeful he can face hitters soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFor him as a person and competitor, I\u2019m extremely excited (to have him back),\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cYou guys know, he is the consummate teammate and did everything he could possibly do for us in a capacity that was really challenging for him and his family. Just the continual setbacks and what that does to you mentally. For him as a person and what he has done for us on the field in previous years, I can\u2019t wait to see him get back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n