Gamethread CLV - Royals at Twins

I know probably none of you want to hear this, but last year Eric Skoglund showed some real promise as a back-end starter before going down with an injury early in the year. He was getting a good number of groundballs and was getting more than his fair share of strikeouts early on. In total, he had three very good-looking starts mixed in among his thirteen total. It was a mixed bag for sure and not the kind of production that could have been allowed to continue on a competitive team, but he was young enough and flashing enough talent that you could dream on him a bit.

Results are somewhat limited this year due to his suspension for PEDs, but there’s pretty much nothing to like among them. He has a 7.43 FIP at the major league level after accruing a 5.96 FIP in 11 AAA starts after returning from the suspension. Compare this to his 4.46 FIP in AAA in 2017 which was good enough to get the Royals to call him up. As it is, Skoglund almost certainly won’t be a starter on the next competitive Royals team. He’s still young enough and with enough flashes of talent to make you think he might occupy a bullpen role if he and the Royals can figure out what a bullpen role for him might look like, but his future as a starter has pretty much vanished.

Unless...

Skoglund gets a spot start tonight. He may get one more next week. If he were to put together two quality starts or better he might figure in the Royals’ rotation plans for next year. There’s no guarantee he’d earn a rotation spot or that he’d keep one if he got it. But this is probably his last chance. Here’s hoping he grabs it with both hands.

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