The Royals lost a pair of depth starters to elbow surgeries. The team announced that right-hander Ryan Bergert underwent UCL reconstruction (Tommy John surgery). Prospect Ben Kudrna had an operation to repair an olecranon stress fracture.
Kansas City didn’t provide return timelines, though both pitchers are surely done for the season. Bergert will miss at least a calendar year and probably won’t be back until the second half of 2027 given the usual 14-16 month timeline for Tommy John procedures. It’s unclear if Kudrna will be ready for the start of the ’27 campaign.
The Royals acquired Bergert and another back-end starter, Stephen Kolek, from San Diego at last year’s deadline for catcher Freddy Fermin. Bergert took the ball eight times after the trade, allowing a 4.43 ERA through 40 2/3 innings. He combined for 19 appearances between the two teams, pitching to a 3.66 mark while striking out 22.6% of opponents over 76 1/3 frames.
Bergert began this season on optional assignment to Triple-A Omaha. He made an early exit from his third start of the year and went on the minor league injured list on April 10.
Kudrna was a second-round pick out of a Kansas high school in 2021. He has been inconsistent in his minor league career but made it to Triple-A at the end of last season. Baseball America ranked him the #13 prospect in a below-average K.C. farm system over the winter. Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs placed him 12th in the organization last week. Both outlets praise his changeup and slider, though BA raised questions about fluctuations in his fastball velocity. Some evaluators projected him for a bullpen move before the injury.
The Royals added Kudrna to their 40-man roster over the offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He and Bergert are each on the minor league injured list for the time being. The Royals could carry either player on the MLB 60-day IL once they need space on the 40-man. Doing so would require paying them the prorated $780K league minimum salary through the end of the season. Kudrna could be an offseason non-tender candidate if the Royals want extra roster flexibility over the winter.
I’ve followed RB since his early days in Pads org. Always thought he was the one guy in the bunch (most since traded away) that was going to have the solid, yet not spectacular career.
TJ is just part of life as a mlb SP so good luck in recovery and see you in 2027.
Elbow surgeries. How unusual. Don’t hear much about those amongst baseball players.
You have the only smart phone in 1913.
7:13 pm? Ok sounds great.
Best of Luck to Berget speedy recovery
In retrospect
There’s very few guys Preller regrets trading away that actually sustained prolong success 5+ years as a career with the same organization.
Really only Fried and Turner were ones that got away long term.
Fried took a long time to get to where he was good and reliable. Gore, Abrams and Wood will have solid careers but you have to trade good to get good. I’ll continue to say Gore will he a solid 3 for a long time but he never lived up to the hype so he is a let down from that perspective.
A few others had the flash in the pan. France looks like he may have rekindled his bat – but back in SD!
I’ll give Naylor a plus so far.
Naylor is a good player
But 114 OPS+ career wise and 116 OPS+ in Cleveland from 1B/DH isn’t Fried and Turner level
While the trade of Kolek and Bergert for Fermin looked like a bad one for the Padres at first, it has turned out in their favor.
It was in their favor from day 1. They needed a Catcher and got one with a lot of control, more than they needed a 5 and 6 guy (I’m saying at the time of the trade). Yes, injuries made it hurt later but that is the way the ball bounces.
Fermin will have trade value in 2027 trade deadline if Campy keeps it up and Salas is on roster. So, the benefits of that trade hasn’t been finished yet.
If you have watched Salas in games for the Missions this year, you can see that once healthy he is once again that top 10 in baseball type prospect. A man among boys on the field and he is not old enough to drink yet. If either Fermin or Campusano are injured, Salas will get the call up.
I wondered if Kudrna was injured when he reached AAA late last year. His struggles there were more than just getting acclimated to a new level. Walked 17 of 63 batters over 11 IP. Looks like he probably was.
Tommy John can kill some careers, but some rebound well (Astros are an example). Hopefully both go down the well path
Ryan bergert was so good last year. Thats a massive bummer. Probably why sd wasnt too bummed to trade him.