The sky seems like it’s falling in Kansas City right now. The Royals suffered their seventh straight loss on Sunday in New York, completing a painful road-trip sweep. Their offense still looks underwhelming, their bullpen has been on the hook for some losses and their starting rotation has suffered multiple blow ups, deviating from their early dominance. On top of that, Salvador Perez’s Saturday benching caused some fireworks that only magnified the Royals’ struggles even further.
However, now that the dust has settled on the Perez saga and the air appears to have been cleared between him and manager Matt Quatraro, fans have the opportunity to take a breath and evaluate some things might’ve been overlooked amid the chaos. One of those details came alongside that very roster move to give Perez some more catching help. The Royals didn’t just address their catching situation, they also addressed the bullpen sending Mitch Spence down to Triple-A with Mason Black being called up in a corresponding move.
We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/O6DNp24lW0
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 19, 2026
After a strong spring, Black had looked very solid in Omaha before getting the call on Sunday. In 11.2 innings of work across seven relief outings, the former highly regarded San Francisco Giants prospect posted a 3.86 ERA, 3.64 FIP and .233 BAA. The Royals have needed a reliable long-man in their ‘pen and Black seemed like just the guy for the job.
And it didn’t take long for their move to receive some vindication. Black came in during the fifth inning after Ragans’ blowup in the Bronx on Sunday and was quite the calming influence. He’d end up going 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out a pair.
Considering he was called up for Mitch Spence, who in his first appearance the day before was far less convincing allowing six earned runs across four innings, this move looked even better. Because of this move, the Royals now have the opportunity to properly build up Spence as a starter in Omaha to bolster their dwindling starting pitching depth.
Bottom line, the Royals could use all the bullpen help they can get right now and Black can provide just that. Their relief corps ranks dead last in baseball in ERA and WHIP and bottom five in BAA and FIP.
Royals also receive a blow to their pitching staff in Sunday’s roster moves
What also may’ve been overlooked in their series of Sunday roster moves was that in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Elias Díaz, Kansas City had send James McArthur to the 60-day IL. This marks yet another set back in the former closer’s quest to return to the ‘pen.
McArthur hasn’t appeared in a major league game since Sept. 16, 2024 due to an elbow injury and subsequent complications with surgery. While his presence in big league camp this spring brought hope that maybe he could play a factor in the Royals ‘pen in 2026, the fact he’s still yet to pitch in a competitive game of any kind since his last big league outing is not reassuring. And the shift to the 60-day IL only makes matters worse.
There was a reason he lost his closer’s role after Lucas Erceg entered the fold at the trade deadline in 2024. His ERA for the year was approached 5.00 (4.92), while his WHIP sat at 1.45 and BAA at nearly .300 (.296). However, there’s been some dark spots in the Royals ‘pen this season, so a former high leverage arm who at his peak held K-rates above 25% and walk rates under 2.5% could’ve possibly been an asset in the middle innings at least.
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