Ragans looks rust-free in Cactus League debut

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Bringing in pitching has definitely been a priority for the Royals, and they got a peek at the payoff on Sunday.

Left-hander Cole Ragans, who sparkled in the second half of 2023 when he came over in exchange for Aroldis Chapman in a June 30 trade with the Rangers, picked up right where he’d left off in his first start of Spring Training. The 26-year-old notched five strikeouts in two scoreless innings as seven pitchers combined to blank the Angels, 1-0, at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Ragans allowed three hits and walked none in a very efficient outing that saw him throw nine of his 11 second-inning pitches for strikes.

“Those first-pitch strikes were great,” Ragans said. “I thought I was commanding my stuff for the most part pretty well. I felt really good.”

With spring being what it is in terms of working on mechanics and playing through situations, Ragans got a little of both in that second inning.

The addition of a slider played a huge role in his success a year ago. As the American League Pitcher of the Month in August, Ragans led the Majors with a 1.72 ERA in his six starts that month, and led all of baseball with 86 strikeouts from his Aug. 2 recall through season’s end.

He’s shaking off early rust on that slider, though.

Both hits Ragans issued in the second inning on Sunday came off the slider. But that also gave him a chance to work around a jam as he faced runners at first and third with one out, only to fan Willie Calhoun and Zach Neto back to back to escape it with his second and third K's of the frame.

His day was done after those two quality innings.

“Slider felt good, but there’s still some tweaks. The movement on it is not what I wanted,” Ragans said. “The movement -- [I] still got some tweaking to do. But arm-wise throwing, it felt great.”

Ragans has also been developing a two-seamer, which he threw just once on Sunday.

“It kind of came out a little weird. I’m still trying to get comfortable with that,” Ragans said of his new pitch-in-progress. “Obviously it’s a really new pitch, so I’m still trying to get the comfortable mindset with it.”

His spring debut came with a twist.

Too late in throwing the game’s first pitch, a pitch-timer violation cost Ragans an automatic ball as he squared off against Angels leadoff man Aaron Hicks.

Not that Ragans even knew what had happened.

“I did not know that until it was 3-2. I had no idea. I thought it was 2-2,” he said. “I turned around to the board and it said ‘3-2,’ and then I saw the umpire hold up ‘3-2.’ I had no idea.”

Meanwhile, the Angels couldn’t do much against anyone after Ragans departed.

New reliever Nick Anderson, Jonathan Bowlan, Chandler Champlain, Beck Way, Andrew Hoffmann and Jacob Wallace combined to allow four hits and three walks over seven innings.

It was the young anchor of the 2024 rotation, though, who checked the most boxes on Sunday.

“He’s such a perfectionist,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Ragans. “He was worried about the finish on some of his pitches, but obviously the velocity was there and he got a lot of swing-and-misses. Really encouraging, and the other guys followed suit.”

The Royals will get a look at another one of their newer arms on Monday against the Cubs in Surprise, Ariz.

Seth Lugo will make his first start since he signed a three-year, $45 million deal in December. The curveball specialist posted a 3.57 ERA with 140 strikeouts in 146 1/3 innings over 26 starts last season with the Padres following seven years with the Mets.

The right-hander is settling in as a new Royal.

“I’m still trying to learn some faces and some names,” Lugo said Sunday. “Wearing the jerseys [with names] now helps. It seems like a good group of guys. Everyone seems pretty down to earth.”

Tyler Duffey, Luis Cessa, James McArthur and Walter Pennington are scheduled to throw in relief on Monday.