Ragans lights up radar gun, focuses on slider in spring debut

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Cole Ragans thinks he will always be nervous when he takes the mound, whether it’s for Game 1 of a postseason series, which he did last year for the Royals, or for a short Cactus League outing, which he did Monday afternoon against the A’s.

“Still got the nerves, still got the butterflies in my stomach,” Ragans said. “I don’t think it’ll ever change.”

Despite the butterflies, Ragans was calm, cool and collected in his 2025 spring debut and looked the part across his two scoreless innings in the Royals’ 1-1 tie against the A’s at Surprise Stadium on Monday.

He was already lighting up the radar gun, a good sign early this spring, averaging 96.9 mph with the 17 fastballs he threw and maxing out at 98.3 mph.

“I was pretty aware of it,” Ragans said. “I thought it was good. Some eights in there. But everything was solid.”

A big focus for Ragans this spring is his slider, getting back to the consistency that he had success with in the second half of 2023, when he introduced the pitch into his arsenal. Statcast only registered three of them on Monday, but the velocity at 87.2 mph was what Ragans wanted to see.

Former Royal CJ Alexander collected a single with a 106.2 mph exit velocity off of Ragans’ slider, and the location of that pitch is why Ragans is emphasizing his slider this spring as he looks to take the next step in his career in 2025.

“The movement was right where we wanted it,” Ragans said. “Just more so now getting it to that down and glove side [part of the plate] instead of over the plate. The single from Alexander, trying to go down and away, bury a two-strike slider, just left it up. … I was locating it well in ‘23. Now, I’ve got the feel of what I need to think to help it be that gyro slider, now it’s finding my lane to locate it. We’re close. Still got a little bit of time to figure it out.”

Marsh’s progress

Alec Marsh threw his first bullpen of the year Monday morning, making the next step forward in his recovery from right shoulder soreness that he has been dealing with since this offseason.

Marsh threw 25 pitches in what he deemed a “normal” bullpen in terms of intensity.

“That first bullpen was very promising,” Marsh said, “Now we just build on that and get to the next one. … When you think about health for the whole year, we’ve got to make sure we do it right, listen to my body correctly and not try to push it so far this early.”

Marsh will throw a few more bullpens before he faces hitters in a live BP. With Opening Day just over a month away, it’s unclear whether Marsh will be ready or at least how built up he will be by then. He’s probably out of the Royals’ rotation competition by this point from an innings standpoint with others finishing their first week of game action in the Cactus League.

“I’m just going to take it one week at a time,” Marsh said. “I’ll wish and pray and hope that when that time comes, we’re good, but you just never know. And plus, other guys are competing, too. Those guys are building up, and they’re going to be built up a lot faster than me right now. So for me, it’s just to get back as fast as I can, be as healthy as I can. And today exceeded everyone’s expectations, even my own.”

Radar gun watching

Royals No. 26 prospect Luinder Avila followed Ragans on Monday with his own power arm, flashing a few 98.5 mph pitches on the scoreboard that got everyone’s attention, even his.

“I was excited,” Avila said through interpreter Luis Perez. “I was just trying to throw hard. I hit 99 for the first time. Felt good.”

Avila averaged 97.6 mph with his four-seam, which is a tick higher than what the Royals have seen with the big right-hander throughout his Minor League career. And his sinker, a new pitch he debuted in the Arizona Fall League, averaged 96.8 mph. Avila thinks the sinker will help him pitch inside and command arm-side.

It remains to be seen if that velocity sticks -- manager Matt Quatraro said Avila looked like he was amped up during his first Cactus League outing -- but it certainly could help as the Royals decide the best role for Avila this year. Now on the 40-man roster, he could help in the bullpen at some point.

Flu game

The flu has been making its way around the Royals’ clubhouse, putting a pause on some players’ workloads. Reliever Evan Sisk had it early in camp, for example, and wasn’t feeling good enough to pitch in Friday’s Cactus League game. He got back to the mound on Sunday with a bullpen and will throw a live BP either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Michael Lorenzen also had it, but he’s back to throwing and is scheduled for two innings in Thursday’s "B" game on the backfields.