Ragans 'felt fantastic' day after successful rehab start

PHILADELPHIA -- Working his way back from a left rotator cuff strain, Royals lefty Cole Ragans made his second rehab start with Triple-A Omaha on Friday night and looked as close as ever to a return to the big leagues.

Ragans threw 56 pitches across 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts against Triple-A Charlotte (White Sox) in Omaha.

On Saturday, Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Ragans “felt fantastic” a day after his outing and is scheduled for a bullpen session on Sunday. If all goes well there, the Royals are planning on having Ragans’ next start come in the big leagues.

“That was really encouraging,” Quatraro said before the Royals' 8-6 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “He is throwing a side session tomorrow, but if all goes well, we would anticipate him coming back.”

What day specifically that will be remains to be seen. Giving Ragans the traditional four days of rest would line him up for Wednesday, the second game of the Royals’ series against the Mariners at Kauffman Stadium.

But the Royals also expect to welcome Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha back next week during the final homestand of the season, Quatraro said. Lugo has been sidelined since Sept. 3 with a lower back strain and is scheduled for his second bullpen on Monday. Wacha missed his start this past Wednesday against the Guardians because of a concussion suffered off the field. He’s returned to throwing and is scheduled for a bullpen session this weekend.

When the three starters return and how the Royals configure their rotation around them remains to be seen. Lugo and Wacha haven’t been out that long, but Ragans would likely be on a pitch count or innings limit, given he only pitched into the fourth inning on Friday. The Royals will have to plan around that and the schedule.

“That’s the big question mark, because we’re still hopeful of having Wacha, Ragans, and Lugo all coming back,” Quatraro said. “We have to nail down each specific day and work through the plans for that, but that’s the hope.”

During Friday's rehab start, Ragans' velocity was down a little bit from his year averages, averaging 94.1 mph with his four-seam fastball, a 1.2 mph dip from his 95.3 mph average this year. But he maxed out at 95.7 mph with the pitch. He had similar decreases in velocity with his changeup and curveball, not uncommon when pitchers are working their way back from an injury, and Ragans hasn’t pitched in a big league game since early June.

What was not missing was Ragans’ typical swing-and-miss stuff. The Knights whiffed 13 times on 21 swings (62%) across Ragans’ 3 2/3 innings. He was scheduled to throw around 60 pitches and started off extremely efficiently with around 20 pitches in the first two innings. But then Ragans faced a long third, throwing 28 pitches. Once Ragans struck out Bryan Ramos with a slider for the second out in the fourth inning, he turned the game over to the Storm Chasers’ bullpen.