The Royals are near signing right-handed pitcher Jordan Lyles to a two-year contract, in response to MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand. No phrases have been reported and the Royals haven’t confirmed. The 32-year-old had a 4.42 ERA in 179 innings for Baltimore with 7.2 strikeouts-per-nine-innings.
Lyles has been a journeyman, pitching for the Astros, Rockies, Padres, Brewers, Pirates, Brewers once more, Rangers, and Orioles. In 12 seasons he has pitched in 321 video games, 214 of them begins, with a profession ERA of 5.10. He gained a career-high 12 video games in Baltimore final yr, nevertheless it was simply the third time he has exceeded 1 fWAR in a season, and he has by no means had a 2 WAR season.
Lyles has a deep arsenal with a fastball that sits at 92 mph to go together with a slider, sinker, change up, and cutter. He may be house run-prone – he allowed a league-high 38 house runs with the Rangers in 2021. Final yr he benefitted from the pushed-back fences at Camden Yards – simply 6 of his 26 house runs allowed got here at house.
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He can eat some innings – solely 14 pitchers have thrown extra innings over the previous two seasons. His stroll price was barely higher than common for a starter final yr, though he has been worse than league common prior to now.
Lyles ought to be a part of a rotation that features Brady Singer and Daniel Lynch, and will embrace Ryan Yarbrough, Brad Keller, or Kris Bubic. The Royals had expressed curiosity in bringing again veteran Zach Greinke, however current experiences indicated that an escalating free agent marketplace for beginning pitchers had brought about negotiations to hit a snag.
