Royals place reliever Jake Brentz on 10-day IL

Prior to Saturday's game, the Royals placed left-hander Jake Brentz on the 10-day injured list due to a left flexor strain. Righty Matt Peacock was called up from Triple-A Omaha to take Brentz’s spot on the active roster.

The injury adds to what has been a thoroughly disastrous start to Brentz’s 2022 season. The southpaw has allowed multiple runs in four of his eight outings, and he has been charged with a whopping 10 runs over his last 1 1/3 innings. Brentz’s most recent appearance on Friday saw him pitch to six Yankees batters without recording an out, leaving the game after allowing five runs (four earned). For the year, Brentz has a ghastly 23.63 ERA in 5 1/3 total frames.

As per MLB.com, Brentz underwent an MRI Friday that didn’t reveal any structural damage. Royals manager Mike Matheny told reporters that Brentz had been dealing with the sore arm for some time, which would explain Brentz’s lack of success.

Pitching in his second Major League season, Brentz was looking to build on a successful rookie year that saw him post a 3.66 ERA, 49% grounder rate, and 27.3% strikeout rate in 64 innings out of the Kansas City bullpen. This was despite some middling hard-contact numbers, and a 13.3% walk rate that ranked among the worst in the league. Brentz was ticketed for a setup role or possibly even some save opportunities heading into the season, but he’ll likely now be put into low-leverage situations once he returns from the IL and re-establishes his effectiveness.

Peacock joins the Royals just six days after being acquired in a trade from the Diamondbacks, who designated the right-hander last week. Peacock is also in his second MLB season, debuting with a 4.90 ERA over 86 1/3 innings (starting eight of 35 games) in 2021. This year, Peacock had only a 6.75 ERA in 2 2/3 frames of work out of Arizona’s relief corps. As a low-strikeout grounder specialist, Peacock represents an interesting contrast to Brentz’s hard-throwing repertoire, and his past starting experience could allow Kansas City to use him in something of a swingman role.