The Royals announced Wednesday that righty Eric Cerantola has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha. Right-hander Stephen Kolek was optioned back to Omaha to make space on the active roster. Cerantola will be making his major league debut when he first takes the mound.
Kansas City drafted the now-26-year-old Cerantola in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. The former Mississippi State righty worked as a starter in the Royals system in 2021-22 before moving to the bullpen in 2023. The Royals selected Cerantola to the 40-man roster in Nov. 2024 in order to shield him from the Rule 5 Draft after a ’24 campaign in which he pitched 72 2/23 innings with a 2.97 ERA, a big 31.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 15.5% walk rate.
Cerantola didn’t make his debut last year, instead spending the season in Triple-A, where he pitched 49 innings with a 4.04 ERA, a 29.6% strikeout rate and an improved (but still too high) 11.3% walk rate. It’s not an overly compelling season from a statistical standpoint, but Cerantola averaged 95 mph on his heater and has garnered plus-plus (70 on the 20-80 scale) grades for his slider over at FanGraphs, where he ranked 28th among K.C. farmhands to begin the season.
Cerantola has gotten out to a terrific start in 2026. He’s pitched 12 2/3 innings of relief and held opposing hitters to just two runs (1.42 ERA) on 10 hits and six walks. He’s fanned exactly one third of the batters he’s faced (18 of 54) and logged a colossal 21.1% swinging-strike thanks largely to that double-plus breaking ball. Command has always been an issue for him and probably will continue to be against major league hitters, but Cerantola adds a nice bat-missing, power arm to a Royals bullpen that currently ranks 21st in strikeout rate and 24th in ERA.
This is the second of three minor league option years for Cerantola. He can be freely sent back to Omaha both this year and next. Given the shaky performance from the Royals’ bullpen overall, there’s plenty of opportunity to earn a long-term spot in the bullpen before Cerantola exhausts his final two option years. He’ll be controllable for at least six seasons beyond the current campaign.
