Kansas City Royals DVOA, Stats, & MLB Rankings

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha put together another strong performance in Friday night's victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies at Kauffman Stadium, striking out five batters over six innings of two-run ball. Wacha submitted his fifth consecutive quality start on Friday against the Phillies, surrendering six hits and no walks en route to his 11th win of the year overall. The 33-year-old right-hander has quietly been one of the most reliable starters in all of baseball for over three months now, going 10-2 with a 2.45 ERA and 82:28 K:BB across his last 16 starts (95 1/3 frames) since May 9. A tough test awaits Wacha in the form of a clash with the first-place Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Wednesday.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen threw seven shutout innings on Wednesday, striking out five hitters during his start against the visiting Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium. Lorenzen scattered four hits and two walks on Wednesday against the Angels, picking up his seventh win of the season in the victory for KC. Since joining the Royals ahead of the trade deadline in late July, the 32-year-old veteran right-hander owns a 1.99 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 16 punchouts and nine walks over 22 2/3 frames (four starts) as he heads into a tough matchup for Tuesday's showdown on the road against the first-place Cleveland Guardians.

Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Hunter Harvey's back "wasn't loosening up" as much as he or the team would have liked by Monday and Tuesday, according to manager Matt Quatraro. Harvey received a cortisone injection on Tuesday, which will shut him down from all activity until Thursday or Friday, but Quatraro said the hurler could be throwing again by the end of the week. Harvey was thought to be making good progress over the last week since he went on the 15-day injured list on Aug. 7, but this pushes his timeline back at least until the Royals can see how he responds to the injection and determine his next steps. The 29-year-old right-hander seemed to be pushing for closing duties in KC's bullpen before getting sidelined, so fantasy managers should pay attention to this late-inning hierarchy going forward.

Kansas City Royals third baseman Paul DeJong swatted his 21st homer in Monday's 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, one of his two hits in four at-bats. DeJong's two-run homer off Angels pitcher Carson Fulmer came in the bottom of the fourth to give the Royals a 3-0 lead. He is hitting .316/.372/.605 with three homers, eight RBI, and seven runs scored in 13 games with the Royals after being traded from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline. DeJong is hitting a combined .237/.286/.448 with 21 homers, 49 RBI, and 46 runs scored with two steals in three attempts. He's found a groove in the bottom of the Royals order, and fantasy managers are grooving with him.

Kansas City Royals relief pitcher John Schreiber picked up his second save of the season in Monday's 5-3 win over the Angels. Schreiber entered the game to pitch the top of the ninth inning up by two. He allowed a leadoff single, induced a groundball double play, and ended the game on a line-out. The Royals have only seen four save opportunities in the last 15 days, with half of them going to Lucas Erceg. Erceg pitched 1 2/3 innings in Sunday's game, so Schreiber got the call in the ninth on Monday. The 30-year-old now owns a 4.02 ERA with two of five save opportunities converted, a 7.11 K/9 rate, and a 3.08 BB/9 rate. Erceg still seems like the arm to roster for fantasy managers unless Schreiber continues to see high-leverage situations.