Kansas City Royals letting their starting rotation down

The Kansas City Royals have had a myriad of problems thus far in 2018. The starting rotation is not one of them.

Heading into Saturday night’s action, the Kansas City Royals had plenty of problems. They were 3-9 on the season, having lost four consecutive games as they sat in the bottom of the American League Central. The offense has been a disaster, having scored only 36 runs over their first 12 games. Unsurprisingly, they rank dead last with four homers, only one more than Shohei Ohtani has hit on the season.

The Royals bullpen, which had been such a strength during their postseason runs, has been a train wreck. Blaine Boyer and Brandon Maurer, in particular, have been a disaster, allowing 26 baserunners and 18 runs in their nine combined innings. Maurer’s horrific start to the year has already led to his banishment to Omaha, with other moves likely to follow.

However, for all the finger pointing that can be done around the Royals clubhouse, the starting rotation has fared relatively well. Even though Danny Duffy has struggled at the start of the year, the Royals starters had a combined 3.04 ERA, fourth best in baseball. Their 1.16 WHiP and .219 batting average against are seventh in the majors.

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It is easy to see why that would be the case. Ian Kennedy is off to an excellent start, looking like the pitcher the Royals hoped they were getting back in 2016. Jakob Junis has been a revelation in the early going, allowing just seven baserunners in his first 14 innings. Even Jason Hammel has been decent in his first two outings, keeping Kansas City in the game.

The Royals have also been operating with a very thin margin of error. All three wins came in shutouts, including both of Junis’ outings prior to Saturday night. Kansas City has already lost four games where they held the opposition to four or fewer runs. It is difficult to hold any major league roster scoreless consistently, and if the Royals cannot score more than three runs a game, then what was expected to be a long season will be even longer.

Heading into the start of the 2018 season, there were plenty of questions about the Royals roster. However, it was expected that they would score their fair share of runs, and have a relatively decent bullpen. Instead, at least in the early going, it has been the rotation that has been the strength of the roster, as virtually every other area on the team has struggled.

Next: Royals bring back Zimmer

The Kansas City Royals may be in the cellar of the AL Central, but it is not the fault of the starting rotation. Instead, the rotation is being let down by the rest of the roster.