Kansas City Royals DVOA, Stats, & MLB Rankings

Kansas City Royals right-hander Seth Lugo (2-3) allowed three hits and a walk while striking out eight across eight scoreless innings in Friday's 2-0 win over the Houston Astros. He picked up his second win of the season. The 35-year-old was efficient on Friday, needing just 94 pitches for eight innings of work. He landed 65 of 94 pitches for strikes and posted a season-high eight strikeouts to secure his second win of the year. The veteran right-hander has allowed just two runs or less in each of his last five starts. Overall, Lugo owns a 3.08 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and a 29:12 K:BB across 38 innings in 2025. He will look to build on Friday's impressive performance in his next scheduled start on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans (groin) was forced to exit early from Thursday's start against the Colorado Rockies. On Friday, Royals' manager Matt Quatraro announced that Ragans is dealing with a mild groin strain. He continued by saying that Ragans feels better, but the team will monitor him over the next few days. It's unclear at the moment if Ragans will be able to take the ball against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. It sounds like he might be able to avoid a trip to the injured list, but that all depends on how the next few days go for Ragans. Fantasy managers will need to monitor his status over the next couple of days.

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez will take a seat for the first time this season for Friday's series opener against the visiting Houston Astros at Kauffman Stadium. Freddy Fermin is doing the catching for right-hander Seth Lugo and will hit eighth against Astros right-hander Hayden Wesneski. It makes sense for the Royals to rest Perez for the first time all year after he played in both games of a doubleheader on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies. The 34-year-old veteran backstop did have a big day on Thursday, going 5-for-8 with four doubles, four RBI and three runs scored in the team's two victories, but overall he's gotten off to a slow start at the plate in 2025. Perez is currently slashing .220/.271/.360 with two homers and 14 RBI in 26 games. Hopefully his big day on Thursday will lead to more offensive production going forward.

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino went 1-for-8 with an RBI and a run scored across two wins over the Colorado Rockies in his team's doubleheader on Thursday. He added one walk and struck out twice. Pasquantino has been disappointing to start 2025. After a solid season last year, he's yet to find his groove at the plate -- hitting a paltry .181 (17-for-94) with six extra-base hits (two home runs), six runs scored, and 15 RBI. The Old Dominion alum has seen his batted ball metrics decline while also striking out quite a bit more (19%) than he had previously. Pasquantino still has some time to turn it around, as he started off relatively slowly last season before turning it on in the summer months.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. had a productive day in his team's doubleheader sweep over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. Witt combined to go 2-for-8 with a double, three runs, an RBI, and a stolen base across both games for KC. The star infielder is off to a productive start for the Royals as he's hitting .303 with two homers, 18 runs, 10 RBI, and eight steals across 99 at-bats this season. Witt remains an everyday must-start in all fantasy leagues.