In 2021, the Padres selected Ryan Bergert with the 190th pick in the draft after an impressive career at West Virginia. After an incredible sophomore season, during which he struck out nearly one-third of the hitters he faced, Bergert was viewed as a must-watch player prior to his junior season. But an injury to the UCL and the dreaded Tommy John surgery set him back and made him fall to the sixth round.

In college, Bergert was great from the second he arrived in Morgantown. As a freshman, Bergert threw in 34 innings and posted a 1.85 ERA, almost exclusively out of the bullpen, with just two starts. In his sophomore season, Bergert threw as a starter in just four games before his injury, going 24.2 innings with a sub-3 ERA and 30 strikeouts. It was the strikeout stuff that encouraged the Padres to take a shot on him in the 2021 draft.

In the minor leagues, Bergert struggled at first. In his first full minor league season, the Padres started him in high-A, where he threw over 100 innings but had a 5.84 ERA with 10 losses on the year. He repeated the next season in Fort Wayne and looked significantly better. A 2.63 ERA over the 61.2 innings earned him a promotion to AA San Antonio, where he continued his success in 2023.

He became heavily recognized as one of the Padres’ top prospects after the 2023 season entered 2024 with high expectations. He spent the whole year in AA, where he had a slow start, but he saw improvement and continued his development through the Padres organization. Bergert started 2025 in AAA and has been up and down the entire year, and with him unable to find a long-term spot in San Diego, the Padres elected to trade him.

What does he bring to the team right now?

Now that we have gone over his professional career path, let’s talk about what he can bring to Kansas City. Bergert brings two true plus pitches, with an elite four-seam fastball and a firm slider he can turn into a sweeper with less velocity and more break. The fastball is similar to that of Kris Bubic, an over-the-top delivery and great carry despite lower velocity. He mixes in a sinker and a changeup, but a lack of consistency with those is what has given him the most trouble so far in his professional career.

Bergert is the exact type of pitcher that the Royals like to work with, with his high spin fastball and good horizontal break from his slider. The fastball sits 93-94 with well over 2400 RPM and 3 inches more carry than the league average. Hitters have to look up in the zone, and his great breaking ball makes it a tough task to square him up.

There are pros and cons to a player like this. While he gives up minimal hard contact, and guys struggle to barrel ball off of him, he does not force a lot of chase and has struggled to find the zone at times. His walk rate is just above 12% which may raise some concern, but his ability to spin the ball will play if he can find the zone more consistently.

What are the next steps for his development?

Command has proven to be an issue, and these struggles have been the main cause for concern among fans. Attempting to refine his mechanics will be important for the Royals staff, looking for him to tighten up his approach and take some of the effort out of his arm. Bergert’s arm motion can feel loose, so if he can stay over the top and keep that spin, but get more of the power from his lower half, he may find more command.

The Royals will also want to work on the rest of his arsenal. Adding a real quality off-speed pitch will be at the top of that list. Bergert’s changeup has been his worst pitch since coming to the majors, with inconsistent command and movement on the pitch. The Royals’ new staff have been incredibly good at developing changeups throughout the organization. Bergert gets a chance to learn from Seth Lugo, Michael Lorenzen, and Michael Wacha, veteran pitchers who have some of the best off-speed changeups in baseball.

The other thing we have seen a lot from the Royals’ pitching development staff is their ability to add different fastballs to a pitcher’s arsenal. Bergert has a sinker, but it is subpar at best, with minimal depth and inconsistent horizontal break. I recently wrote about the development of the two-seam fastball and how the Royals staff has been great with it. Bergert will benefit from building an effective two-seamer or even a cutter to keep hitters in between the fastball and slider.

Bergert is far from his ceiling right now, and there is plenty for the Royals to build on to make him a high-quality starter. As of now, he is a fifth starter at best, but he will need to add a pitch and improve his command if he wants a long-term role in the MLB. But these are reasonable expectations, and with how incredible the Royals’ pitching staff has been over the last few years, it is a safe bet we will see some quick improvement.

Bergert is only 25 years old and will be under club control through 2029, and is someone I would expect to see in Kansas City for the next few years. The moral of the story, Bergert is a young pitcher with some good stuff, but inconsistent command and a limited pitch mix. He will need some work, but has already proven capable of competing at the MLB level and has plenty of potential to stay in the middle of the rotation.