Royals Ace Ranked Among MLB's Best Pitchers Despite Rocky Start

The Kansas City Royals came into the 2026 season with very high hopes for the year. Their young core of position players, led by Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, and plenty of others, are all looking to take big steps forward this year.

But the Royals came into the season with a pair of talented pitchers emerging as the stars at the top of their rotation. Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic have both flashed ace potential, but they both missed a chunk of last season with injuries.

Ragans is the team's ace, but he didn't have an ace start to begin the season.

Cole Ragans struggled in his first start of 2026

Mar 27, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Cole Ragans (55) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Ragans came into the season with high expectations, but was greeted with six hits, four earned runs, four walks, and three home runs across four innings against the Atlanta Braves to open his season. Honestly, considering he walked four batters and gave up six hits, including three home runs, he's fortunate to have only given up four earned runs in the short start.

Ragans typically isn't hit around like this. He's allowed under one home run per nine innings across his time with the Royals. So it's safe to assume he's going to regress to the mean over time.

The Athletic's Andy McCullough, Will Sammon, and Sahadev Sharma recently put together a poll of experts in order to rank the best starting pitchers in the league. This poll ranked Ragans as the No. 24 best pitcher in baseball, which means the Royals should still have high expectations for him despite the rocky start.

Cole Ragans is still an ace despite the rocky start

Sep 28, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans (55) throws a pitch against the Athletics during the first inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

"Heading into 2025, Ragans looked capable of asserting himself as a true No. 1," they wrote. "Then he injured his shoulder in June. In a three-start performance upon his return in September, he didn’t last deep into game, but he was back to missing bats. Given Ragans’ age and prior history of two Tommy John surgeries, any serious injury carries extra weight."

Injuries are the only thing that held Ragans back from being one of the best pitchers in the league last season. Two years ago, he was a Cy Young candidate. This season, he has the potential to be one again.

Ragans' stuff wasn't bad. But he didn't have his command. He was only in the zone 40 percent of the time. His fastball was in the zone less than 50 percent of the time while his slide, which is seemingly his best pitch, was all over the place.

Once he reels his command back in, he's going to be a star.