{"id":2339569,"date":"2026-03-21T03:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T03:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2339569"},"modified":"2026-03-21T03:28:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T03:28:40","slug":"royals-option-luinder-avila-and-steven-cruz-set-first-turn-of-rotation-royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-option-luinder-avila-and-steven-cruz-set-first-turn-of-rotation-royals\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals Option Luinder Avila and Steven Cruz; Set First Turn of Rotation &#8211; Royals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"news-content-main\">\n<p>\n\tOn Friday afternoon, a couple of new stories broke that seemed to clarify what the Kansas City Royals&#8217; pitching staff will look like on Opening Day in Atlanta, which is one week from Friday.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Royals have seven days until their 2026 opener and 10 days until their home opener at Kauffman Stadium. Thus, the news with pitching is expected, especially as Kansas City tries to juggle the rotation and pitching matchups for these final spring contests.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<h2>\n\tKansas City Options Avila and Cruz to Omaha<br \/>\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span>Shortly before the Royals&#8217; Spring Training contest against the San Francisco Giants, the Royals announced the optioning of pitchers <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/avilalu02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Luinder Avila<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=cruzst01,cruz--001ste&amp;search=Steven+Cruz&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Steven Cruz<\/a> to Triple-A Omaha. The move brings the Royals&#8217; Major League Spring Training roster to 47.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"ipsEmbed_finishedLoading\" data-controller=\"core.front.core.autosizeiframe\" data-embedid=\"embed3579396661\" src=\"https:\/\/royalskeep.com\/index.php?app=core&amp;module=system&amp;controller=embed&amp;url=https:\/\/x.com\/Royals\/status\/2035140874649444789?s=20\" style=\"overflow: hidden; height: 398px;\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Royals&#8217; decision to option both pitchers isn&#8217;t totally surprising. Both pitchers have Minor League options and didn&#8217;t have clear roles going into Spring Training. The Royals still view Avila as a potential starter, and he didn&#8217;t get a ton of work as expected this spring due to his participation with Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tStill, his numbers were pretty stellar when he did pitch in Spring Training. In six innings of work, he had a 1.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 1.82 FIP with 30.4% K% and 21.7% K-BB%. He also had solid TJ Stuff+ metrics, as illustrated in his TJ Stats summary below.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn addition to having a 101 TJ Stuff+ this spring, he had a 33.9% chase rate and 35.3% whiff rate. His .443 xwOBACON was a bit high, and his 43.3% zone rate was the lone blemish on his performance this spring.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span>In a piece posted by Rogers shortly after the Royals announced the moves, the Royals plan to have Avila stretched out so he can seamlessly rotate between the rotation and the bullpen. Furthermore, manager <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/q\/quatrma99.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Matt Quatraro<\/a> emphasized the need for Avila to throw more innings, and that would be easier to do in Omaha than in Kansas City.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ipsQuote\" data-gramm=\"false\" data-ipsquote=\"\">\n<p>\n\t\tQuote\n\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix\" data-gramm=\"false\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u201cWe want to look forward to the future with him, too, and understanding that if he only pitches 50 innings this year [in the bullpen], that\u2019s probably not good for him or us,\u201d manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cHis is more of a bigger picture look, stretching him out to multiple innings and getting him to throw some innings before we need him up here.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span>As for Cruz, it seemed like he was the victim of an option &#8220;crunch&#8221; in the bullpen, especially with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/langeal01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Lange<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/falteba01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Bailey Falter<\/a> being out of options, according to Quatraro.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ipsQuote\" data-gramm=\"false\" data-ipsquote=\"\">\n<p>\n\t\tQuote\n\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix\" data-gramm=\"false\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u201cHe pitched well,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cHe was throwing hard. But acquiring Lange and Mears, both out of options, and Falter being out of options &#8212; it\u2019s a crappy message for [Cruz], but we do know that he\u2019s going to be up sometime this year, and he\u2019s going to pitch important innings for us.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\tIn seven innings of work, Cruz posted a 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 1.72 FIP. He also had a 27.6% K% and 20.7% K-BB% and generated some excellent TJ Stuff+ metrics, as seen below.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"tjstats_season_summary (12).png\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" data-fileid=\"11671\" data-ratio=\"100.00\" data-unique=\"h3ww50p67\" width=\"1800\" src=\"https:\/\/dnrdcuopavmuu.cloudfront.net\/monthly_2026_03\/tjstats_season_summary(12).png.197966ef46cd21c86c94733543001229.png\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tCruz sported some of the best stuff on the Royals&#8217; pitching staff this spring with a 104 overall TJ Stuff+, which included a four-seamer with a 105 TJ Stuff+ and a slider with a 108 TJ Stuff+. The 26-year-old didn&#8217;t generate the most chase (26.1%), but he flooded the zone well (51.1%), generated whiff (27.1%), and limited hard contact (.226 xwOABCON).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span>If <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/estevca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Carlos Estevez<\/a> isn&#8217;t ready for Opening Day (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TJStats\/status\/2034476714714108117?s=20\" rel=\"external\">and he may not be, especially with his velocity\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TJStats\/status\/2034476714714108117?s=20\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">so down<\/a>), Cruz could be an option to<\/span>\u00a0fill in the bullpen if the Royals elect to begin Estevez on the 15-Day IL to begin the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<h2>\n\tFirst Turn of Royals&#8217; Rotation is Set<br \/>\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n\tEarlier in the afternoon, before the Spring Breakout game between the Royals and Rangers top prospects, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that the Royals had set their first &#8220;turn&#8221; of the rotation. That included the Opening Day series in Atlanta and the one against Minnesota in Kansas City.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"ipsEmbed_finishedLoading\" data-controller=\"core.front.core.autosizeiframe\" data-embedid=\"embed2163063803\" src=\"https:\/\/royalskeep.com\/index.php?app=core&amp;module=system&amp;controller=embed&amp;url=https:\/\/x.com\/anne__rogers\/status\/2035077967051964502?s=20\" style=\"overflow: hidden; height: 422px;\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe rotation is not a surprise, especially since this was the expected projected group before Spring Training began. After\u00a0<span style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/royalskeep.com\/news-rumors\/kansas-city-royals\/royals-option-ryan-bergert-three-others-and-send-helcris-olivarez-to-minor-league-camp-r4184\/?do=getNewComment&amp;d=1&amp;id=4184\" rel=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Ryan Bergert was optioned to Omaha<\/a><\/span>, it seemed like a done deal that Noah Cameron would have the last spot in the Royals&#8217; rotation.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span>There was some concern from fans about having three lefties in a row go in the Twins series (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bubickr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Kris Bubic<\/a>, Cameron, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/raganco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Cole Ragans<\/a>). However, Quartraro seemed to downplay those notions and was more concerned about having their best pitchers go, regardless of matchup or order.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ipsQuote\" data-gramm=\"false\" data-ipsquote=\"\">\n<p>\n\t\tQuote\n\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix\" data-gramm=\"false\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\u201cYou can try to plan that out for five series, six series, whatever, but if there\u2019s a rain delay or you don\u2019t match up with the team you thought &#8212; it\u2019s just [about], \u2018Let\u2019s get the guys going,\u2019\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cIf we were going to split them up one more day, it\u2019s going to turn around again where there\u2019s two lefties in a row. We don\u2019t want to overthink that. We have confidence in all those guys. So much is made of who\u2019s your No. 1 and who\u2019s your No. 5. If they all make 30-plus starts, we\u2019re happy.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\t<span>The Royals&#8217; rotation had the seventh-best ERA in baseball in 2025. With a healthy Ragans and Bubic returning, and depth with Bergert, Falter, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kolekst01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=royalskeep.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-20_br\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Kolek<\/a> (who will start the year on the IL), they certainly will have a chance to perform better than last year&#8217;s mark, even with the changed ballpark dimensions.\u00a0 <\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalskeep.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday afternoon, a couple of new stories broke that seemed to clarify what the Kansas City Royals&#8217; pitching staff will look like on Opening Day in Atlanta, which is one week from Friday. The Royals have seven days until their 2026 opener and 10 days until their home opener at Kauffman Stadium. Thus, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2339570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2339569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Royals-Option-Luinder-Avila-and-Steven-Cruz-Set-First-Turn.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339571,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339569\/revisions\/2339571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2339570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}