Royals place pitcher on IL

The Royals announced Thursday that righty Alec Marsh is headed to the 15-day injured list with a right elbow contusion. Right-handed reliever Will Klein has been recalled to take his spot on the roster and will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game.

Marsh took a comeback liner from Blue Jays rookie Addison Barger off his arm in Wednesday’s game and exited the contest. X-rays came back negative, though Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweeted after Wednesday night’s game that Marsh had severe bruising and an imprint of the seams was visible on his arm where he’d been struck. He’ll sit down for a couple of weeks to let that subside before stepping back into the rotation.

Selected with the 70th overall pick in 2019, Marsh won the Royals’ fifth starter job over veteran Jordan Lyles in spring training and has had a fine start to his season. 

He’s taken the ball five times and pitched 26 2/3 innings with a 2.70 earned run average. His 15.9 percent strikeout rate and 36.3 percent grounder rate are both well below average, but Marsh also touts a strong 6.5 percent walk rate on the season. 

He’s not likely to sustain this level of success without upping his whiffs and/or grounders, and he’ll surely wind up seeing more than three percent of his fly balls leave the yard (which has been his HR/FB rate in 2024). Even with those red flags, he still looks like a viable fifth starter in a vastly improved Kansas City rotation.

The 24-year-old Klein was Kansas City’s final pick in the shortened five-round 2020 draft. He came off the board with the No. 135 overall selection and has steadily risen through the minor league ranks since. 

Klein logged a 3.38 ERA and fanned a third of his opponents in Double-A last year before reaching Triple-A and limping to a 5.66 ERA with a bloated 14.4 percent walk rate in 35 innings down the stretch. 

He’s opened the 2024 campaign with 11 shutout frames in Triple-A Omaha, however. Klein’s command remains an issue, evidenced by a 13.6 percent walk rate, but he’s whiffed nearly 28 percent of his opponents this season and kept the ball on the ground at a solid 44 percent rate.

Klein entered the season ranked 18th among Royals prospects at both Baseball America and MLB.com. Both outlets credit him with a plus-plus heater (70-grade on the 20-80 scale) that sits in the upper 90s and frequently reaches triple digits. 

Klein also garners praise for a plus slider/cutter and above-average curveball but unsurprisingly draws below-average reviews for his command of that potent arsenal. 

He has late-inning potential if he can get to even average command, but he’s thus far walked 16 percent of his opponents in pro ball.