{"id":692438,"date":"2026-05-07T06:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/692438\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T06:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:12:19","slug":"royals-welcome-a-new-name-to-the-bullpen-he-recently-pitched-for-team-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/692438\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals welcome a new name to the bullpen. He recently pitched for Team Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a new uniform hanging in the Kansas City Royals\u2019 clubhouse Wednesday.<\/p>\n

And it was for a proud Canadian.<\/p>\n

Prior to Wednesday\u2019s action, the Royals called up relief pitcher Eric Cerantola<\/a> from Triple-A Omaha. The burly right-hander is set to make his MLB debut at Kauffman Stadium against the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look back at, you know, all the work you put in,\u201d Cerantola said. \u201cAnd obviously, being drafted by the Royals, coming through the ranks with them, all the hard work and development that\u2019s gone into it. It\u2019s a really good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royals selected Cerantola in the fifth round of the 2021 MLB Draft<\/a>. He matriculated through the minors and pitched for Team Canada in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

Cerantola, 26, will join the Royals\u2019 bullpen. In a corresponding move, the club sent right-handed starter Stephen Kolek back to the Omaha Storm Chasers.<\/p>\n

Kolek allowed three runs<\/a> in six innings Tuesday. He made the spot start after lefty Noah Cameron was sidelined due to back tightness.<\/p>\n

The Royals considered moving Kolek to the bullpen. However, the club opted to keep him stretched out as a starter.<\/p>\n

This presented Cerantola with an opportunity. This season, he\u2019s posted a 1.42 ERA in 12 \u2154 innings with the Storm Chasers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see him,\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cHe has worked exceptionally hard. His command has really improved. He\u2019s always had the really good breaking ball and (is) throwing a lot more strikes. He\u2019s performed really well in Triple-A. And when you look at him, he looks like a big leaguer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an imposing guy and throws really hard. It\u2019s really exciting for the organization to have him get up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royals have been impressed with his recent development. Cerantola added a cutter to feature alongside a fastball and slider.<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

Eric Cerantola #61 of Team Canada delivers a pitch against the Team Cuba in the ninth inning during the 2026 World Baseball Classic at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on March 11, 2026 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

The changes have worked. Cerantola has allowed just two earned runs and recorded 18 strikeouts in 12 games. He also has five saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really confident in the three pitches right now,\u201d Cerantola said. \u201cCan throw them in any count. And that\u2019s kind of opened up some different sequencing. And just overall, it\u2019s created confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royals are currently without Carlos Est\u00e8vez<\/a> in the bullpen, which has allowed fellow relievers Lucas Erceg, Matt Strahm and Daniel Lynch IV to take on bigger roles.<\/p>\n

Erceg has 10 saves this season. Strahm and Lynch have filled other high-leverage roles.<\/p>\n

The Royals will look to get Cerantola into games. The club has right-handers in Nick Mears, John Schreiber, Luinder Avila and Alex Lange available as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the end of the day, it\u2019s just the mindset being aggressive and attacking guys,\u201d Cerantola said.<\/p>\n

For now, Cerantola will soak in the moment. His parents are in town for his debut. It\u2019s a long trek from Canada but worth the journey.<\/p>\n

One that will be remembered for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad, my mom and my sister made the trip down already,\u201d Cerantola said. \u201cThey text me they landed. So they\u2019re going to be here and then possibly some more friends might come along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a new uniform hanging in the Kansas City Royals\u2019 clubhouse Wednesday. And it was for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,87335,58614,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252,5176,57061,2122],"class_list":{"0":"post-692438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cerantola","10":"tag-eric-cerantola","11":"tag-kansas","12":"tag-kansas-city","13":"tag-kansas-city-royals","14":"tag-kansascity","15":"tag-kansascityroyals","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-royals","18":"tag-stephen-kolek","19":"tag-the-kansas-city-royals","20":"tag-the-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116531819623206737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}