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The Royals announced the promotion to southpaw Angel Zerpa to start tonight’s game against the Indians. It will be his major league debut. He was added to the 40-player roster last winter to prevent him from being selected in the rule 5 draft, so no move was needed in that regard. left-handed Daniel lynch was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a contusion to his right hand to free up space on the active list.
Kansas City has sparked many pitching hopes over the past two seasons. Zerpa is not considered to have the same caliber of talent as players like Lynch, Singer Brady, and Jackson kowar, but he is still considered one of the best candidates to launch the system. Earlier this year, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Zerpa the 10th overall farm worker in the Kansas City organization, while Baseball America ranked him 20th in its midseason update.
Both outlets note that Zerpa doesn’t throw particularly hard – his lead is typically between 90-94 MPH – but he praises his keen punch-pitching sense and side offerings, especially his change to the punchline. mid-80s. Longenhagen suggests Zerpa could move to the rear of the rotation in the future, while BA projects him as a likely reliever.
Zerpa will make his way into the big leagues as a starter, although he may be an option to work in either capacity for the Royals fairly early next season. He’s only made one career AAA appearance, so he looks likely to start the year in the minors. But the Kansas City front office clearly believes that Zerpa is not far from a regular contributor to the big leagues.
While Zerpa had never thrown over the rookie ball before this season, the Royals added him to the 40 men last November because they thought it was plausible that another club could speed him up. in the big leagues as a rule 5 pick to gain his long term control rights. He will indeed reach the majors just days after his 22nd birthday, the culmination of a four-level course this season.
Zerpa has a 4.58 ERA in 88 1/3 innings in the minor leagues this year. He started the campaign in High-A and posted a rating of 2.59 sterling. An inflated batting average of 0.370 on in-play balls after a promotion to Double-A led to a 5.96 ERA at this level, but he posted high-end take-out and walk rates (28.9 % and 7.4%, respectively) at the three levels. This performance earned Zerpa an end-of-season audition in the big leagues.
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