Ragans gets Opening Day nod for 2nd straight year: 'I love it here'

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Cole Ragans helped lead the Royals to the postseason in 2024 and emerged as one of the best starters in baseball.

In 2025, he’ll lead the Royals onto the field for Opening Day once again, as manager Matt Quatraro confirmed Sunday what has been expected since spring began: Ragans will be the Royals’ Opening Day starter.

“Cole’s got elite stuff, the elite swing and miss ability against any lineup,” Quatraro said after the Royals’ 10-2 win over the Rockies at Salt River Fields. “... He’s excited, we’re excited, and he’s certainly earned it. His whole body of work -- his stuff, the person he is, the way he competes, the way the other guys look up to him.

“He’s an Opening Day guy.”

The lefty will take the mound on March 27 against the Guardians at Kauffman Stadium, looking to set the tone for a season in which the Royals have much higher expectations than in years’ past. One year after a 30-win turnaround and the first postseason appearance since the 2015 World Series, Kansas City is eyeing the American League Central in 2025, looking to unseat Cleveland as the reigning division champs.

It starts with putting their best starter on the mound for Day 1.

“It’s pretty special,” Ragans said. “It’s awesome. It’s going to be an exciting year. A lot of excitement around it just because of last year. Like I said last year, I don’t think you can go wrong with any other guys in the rotation. It’s an honor to be that guy to get us off on the right foot.

“I love it here. And it obviously makes you feel good that they have that much confidence in me to start those games.”

Ragans’ second Opening Day nod hardly comes as a surprise. Over and over again, the Royals have signaled their belief and confidence in Ragans leading this staff. After just 12 starts with Kansas City following the trade that made Ragans a Royal and sent Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers in 2023, the Royals tagged Ragans for last year’s Opening Day start. He had earned it with the 2.64 ERA he posted in the second half. His stuff and mentality made the Royals believe he could be their ace.

Last season, his first full year in Kansas City, confirmed it.

Across 32 starts and 186 1/3 innings, Ragans posted a 3.14 ERA with 223 strikeouts, the second most punchouts in the AL and the third most in a single season by a Royal, behind only Dennis Leonard (244 in 1977) and Zack Greinke (242 in 2009). Ragans’ 10.77 strikeout-per-nine rate led AL pitchers, and his 4.9 WAR, per FanGraphs, also ranked second in the league.

In 2024, Ragans was an All-Star for the first time. He became just the fifth Royals pitcher with 200-plus strikeouts in a single season and the first left-hander to do it. He started the Royals’ first postseason game in nine years when he took the ball for Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series against Baltimore and struck out 10 batters across six scoreless innings.

Ragans finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2024, two spots behind his teammate, Seth Lugo, who will likely be the No. 2 starter in the Royals’ rotation. Michael Wacha, Michael Lorenzen and either Kris Bubic or Daniel Lynch IV will round out the starting staff to begin the year.

Ragans found out he was getting the Opening Day nod on Saturday, when Quatraro and pitching coach Brian Sweeney pulled him into Quatraro’s office. Ragans had been joking with Sweeney all spring because several of his starts have come on the road across town, leading to long drives from Surprise. His last three starts have been on the east side of the Phoenix metro in Mesa and Scottsdale, including Sunday’s start, when Ragans allowed two runs in 2 2/3 innings, needing 83 pitches to work through some mechanical struggles.

In the office Saturday, Sweeney kindly pointed to the calendar.

“I was like, ‘I must have said something to make you mad, sending me all the way over here,’” Ragans said. “And they were like, ‘No, it just lines up for Opening Day. You want to pitch on Opening Day?’ Obviously, heck yeah I do.”

This spring, the Royals signed Ragans to a new three-year deal that signaled again their belief in the 27-year-old. The contract buys out one pre-arbitration year (2025) and two arbitration years (2026 and ‘27), with Ragans’ final arb year still open before he becomes a free agent. General manager J.J. Picollo certainly didn’t close the door to a long-term extension in the future.

Because the Royals do see Ragans as part of their future, and hopefully behind the four years he’s under control. Kansas City loves him -- and he loves Kansas City.

So taking the ball to begin a season full of excitement certainly isn’t lost on Ragans, who only wants to win and help the Royals bring a championship back to Kansas City.

“The fans in Kansas City are unreal,” Ragans said. “For everyone. They show up every night. They’re loud. They cheer for us. It’s fun, and they make it fun. And when they get loud, we get loud. So it’s exciting. I’m looking forward to Opening Day, seeing all of them there. I know it’s going to be packed. It’s going to be loud. I think we’re all looking forward to that.”