The Royals have placed right-handers Michael Lorenzen on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left thigh, according to a team statement. Right-handed Steven Cruz was recalled from Triple-A Omaha in his place. Lorenzen sustained the injury yesterday while covering first base on a grounder.
Acquired in a trade on the deadline day, in which the left-handed relief player Walter Pennington For the Rangers, Lorenzen has been an asset to Kansas City’s rotation. In five starts, he has pitched 24 1/3 innings with a 1.85 ERA and struck out 17% of his opponents with a 10% walk rate. Metrics like FIP (4.20) and SIERA (5.11) aren’t nearly as optimistic given the right-hander’s mediocre strikeout, walk and groundball rates.
While Lorenzen cannot be expected to continue producing a sub-2.00 ERA, the results so far have been a definite shock to a team that has struggled to improve the performance of its fifth starter. Alec Marsh. Kansas City has won each of Lorenzen’s last three games, and he can hardly be blamed for the loss in his Royals debut, throwing 5 2/3 innings with one run in a game the Royals eventually lost 6-5.
The Royals have not announced a timetable for Lorenzen’s return, but he will be out at least two weeks. The aforementioned Marsh is the most likely candidate to re-enter the rotation in his place. In 20 starts this season (plus one relief appearance), the 26-year-old Marsh has thrown 106 innings with a 4.67 earned run average.
Marsh’s 21.3% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are both better than Lorenzen’s season totals between Texas and Kansas City, but he too has dropped off significantly after a strong start to the season. In his last eight appearances on the mound, he’s been rocked with a 6.46 ERA and has given up seven home runs in 39 innings (1.62 HR/9). Marsh has been strong in four Triple-A starts this month after being optioned (1.80 ERA, 19:5 K/BB ratio in 15 innings), and the Royals will now have to hope for more of that kind of performance as Lorenzen recovers.
For the 25-year-old Cruz, this will be his first appearance with the Royals in 2024. He made his major league debut last year and pitched 12 2/3 innings with a 4.97 ERA and a 15-to-11 K/BB ratio in that short time. Kansas City acquired the hard-throwing right-hander in the 2022-23 offseason trade, which Michael A. Taylor to the division rival Twins. He has pitched exclusively out of the Omaha bullpen this season, posting a 3.35 ERA with a 26.6% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in 48 1/3 innings. Cruz’s four-seamer has averaged 96.9 mph this season in Triple-A, and he has paired that pitch primarily with a slider that clocks in at 89.4 mph.
