The Royals have placed pitchers Chris Young and Kris Medlen on the 15 day disabled list and have promoted relief pitchers Scott Alexander and Peter Moylan from AAA Omaha. Young was nursing a muscle tear in his forearm, revealed after an MRI this week, and was recently bumped from the rotation in favor of Dillon Gee following his start against the Yankees on Monday. According to Jeffrey Flanagan, the Royals don't think Young will need the full 15 days to recover, but needed to get a fresh arm on the staff. Young had a 6.68 ERA in seven starts with a league-high 13 home runs allowed.
Chris Young on managing forearm pain: "I’ve had to change how I take off my shoes, brush my teeth, take off my shirt…" #Royals
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) May 10, 2016
Kris Medlen was lifted in the third inning of Tuesday's game against the Yankees and was reportedly suffering from shoulder soreness. Medlen has been uncharacteristically wild all season with a team-high 7.4 walks per-nine innings and a 7.77 ERA in six starts. He has had two Tommy John surgeries in his career, although that surgery has nothing to do with shoulder soreness. Medlen was scheduled to start Sunday's game against Atlanta. The Royals have not yet announced a starter for that game, although it will likely be either Brian Flynn or Danny Duffy.
Scott Alexander is a 26-year old left-hander who made his Major League debut last September with the Royals. The California native had a 2.57 ERA in 14 innings of relief for AAA Omaha with eight strikeouts and four walks. He has struck out 7.4 hitters per nine innings in his minor league career, and lefties hit .152/.243/.163 against him in 2015.
Peter Moylan is a nine-year Major League veteran, mostly with the Braves, who has suffered from long list of injuries in his career. The Australian is a side-arming reliever who has a 2.83 career ERA in 286 1/3 innings. He keeps the ball on the ground ball rate of 61.6% in his career. In Omaha, he had allowed just one earned run in 12 1/3 innings of work for a 0.71 ERA with ten strikeouts and three unintentional walks.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Moylan, the Royals transferred infielder Raul Mondesi to the restricted list, following his suspension for Clenbuterol. Curiously, the Royals did not promote left-handed reliever Brian Duensing, who can opt-out of his contract by May 15 if he is not in the Major Leagues. Duensing has a 3.44 ERA in Omaha, but has 17 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings.
Update at 3:24 CT: Danny Duffy will make the start on Sunday.
Duffy will have a pitch count of 50 pitches. Ned said he will look to piggy-back someone.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) May 12, 2016