SAN DIEGO -- Manager Matt Quatraro knew he needed rotation depth when the Royals recalled left-hander Noah Cameron at the beginning of May.
“We didn’t know why,” he said. “Or who it was gonna be for.”
But it didn’t take long for an opportunity to present itself for the 25-year-old left-hander, as Cole Ragans landed on the injured list for 20 days with a left groin strain on May 17, and was placed on the IL again on June 11 with a left rotator cuff strain. But the blow that comes from losing a pitcher like Ragans -- an All-Star with the Royals a year ago -- has been softened somewhat by the emergence of Cameron, Kansas City's No. 5 prospect.
“He’s pitched great,” Quatraro said before the Royals’ 5-1 loss to the Padres in Petco Park on Saturday. “I think six of his seven starts have been really, really good. … He stepped up when guys went down. That’s good for us as a team, it’s good for the organization and clearly for him, it’s been a good start to his career.”
"Good" might be underselling him a bit.
Over eight big league starts, Cameron has posted a 2.08 ERA with 0.97 WHIP in 47 2/3 innings. Out of the 11 runs he’s given up, six of them came in one outing -- against the Yankees on June 10. But that didn’t shake Cameron’s confidence, as he bounced back five days later with five scoreless innings against the Athletics. If you ignore that start against the Yankees entirely, Cameron’s ERA goes down over a whole point to 1.07.
Saturday provided another litmus test for Cameron in the form of a Padres lineup that features some of the sport’s best hitters in Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arraez, and Manny Machado. Quatraro knew his rookie had his work cut out for him and that in order to be successful, Cameron was going to need to mix his pitches and keep moving the ball well to avoid any of their hotspots.
Cameron felt confident in his game plan -- namely the changeup that he felt had gotten away from him in his previous outing. He focused on it all week, and it ended up being arguably his most reliable pitch on Saturday.
Out of the 88 pitches Cameron threw, 20 of them were changeups. It had a little bit more vertical break than his average this season, and as a result drew six combined called strikes and whiffs for a 30% Called Strike Plus Whiff (CSW) rate.
“He has a good changeup, one of the best changeups in the big leagues right now,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said in Spanish. “He’s throwing it a lot, and it’s been working.”
But Cameron's outing wasn’t without hiccups. He gave up a leadoff double to Gavin Sheets followed by a single from Xander Bogaerts in the second inning that allowed the Padres to strike first on a fielder’s choice. The next inning, Cameron issued two one-out walks, setting up an RBI single from Arraez. Cameron kept battling though, drawing timely double plays and groundballs to escape some jams.
“I kind of put myself in bad situations,” Cameron said. “A lot of waste pitches, stuff that I guess hasn’t really been happening. So just definitely had a lot of stress pitches, but I thought only allowing two runs is acceptable. We’ll take it. Not the best day at the office, but kept us in it and gave us a chance.”
Perez, the Royals' likely future Hall of Fame catcher, likes what he’s seen from the rookie from an overall perspective. He didn’t put too much weight into what facing the Padres meant as a benchmark for Cameron, but insisted that the real test is every time he steps on the mound.
“With every big league team that he’s facing, he has to put in work,” Perez said. “They’re all at this level for a reason. So he has to do the work, concentrate, make his pitches and whatever happens out there, happens.”
Cameron’s been an important piece in keeping the Royals afloat. And as the calendar continues to turn into the summer, and with the Royals in the thick of the AL postseason picture, they’re going to need even more from him.
“He’s helped us a lot. He’s pitched extremely well. I hope he keeps it going, that he keeps working, stays focused, doing the things he likes to do so that he can keep helping us and take this team to the playoffs,” Perez said. “He can get it done.”