Former underrated Guardians reliever becoming key cog in Royals’ bullpen

While former Guardians reliever Eli Morgan didn’t make the Kansas City Royal’s Opening Day roster at the end of spring training, they took a huge step toward making him a permanent part of the team’s roster picture by adding him to their 40-man roster at the end of spring training and optioning him to the minors. 

But it didn’t take long for him to work his way into that big league picture, as the Royals added him to their MLB roster a week ago in response to the team’s taxing doubleheader against the Guardians. 

And he’s been able to parlay that opportunity into some success for Cleveland’s division rival, as he entered play today with five scoreless innings and a save across his two appearances with Kansas City. 

It may not be the flashiest role in the world, but it seems like Morgan has found a role for himself as the longman in Kansas City’s ‘pen. 

Eli Morgan’s success with the Royals should look familiar to Guardians fans 

Morgan had a bit of an up-and-down career with the Guardians. After opening his big league career with a 5.34 ERA in 2021 while working primarily as a starter, he shifted over to the bullpen in 2022 and had a 3.38 ERA in 66 2/3 innings with 72 strikeouts. 

He took a step back in 2023 (4.01 ERA in 67 1/3 innings), but had a 1.93 ERA in 2024 (his final season with the Guardians).

That said, he was limited to just 42 innings that season due to elbow inflammation, which was one of the biggest reasons the Guardians decided to trade him to the Cubs after that season in exchange for prospect Alfonsin Rosario. 

Morgan only appeared in 7 1/3 innings last year with the Cubs before his season ended due to an elbow impingement. That led to the Cubs DFA’ing at the end of the season. 

He signed a minor league contract with the Royals in the offseason and was added to their roster after allowing one run across 10 1/3 innings in spring training. 

While he doesn’t boast an incredibly overpowering arsenal, he has a looping changeup that ranks among the league’s best when he’s healthy and has experience going deep into games, which the Royals have been taking advantage of. 

He made his first appearance of the season on April 4 as the 27th man in Kansas City’s doubleheader against the Brewers, where he threw three scoreless innings with five strikeouts to close out the Royals’ 8-2 win. 

His next outing came last week when he threw two scoreless innings in Kansas City’s 2-0 loss to the White Sox on April 9. Although he only had one strikeout in that outing, he allowed one walk and one strikeout. 

Kansas City has been scrambling in its bullpen thanks to injuries to Carlos Estévez and Bailey Falter, so Morgan has helped them pick up a bit of the slack as an innings-eater. 

While it would be hard for Morgan to have a role in the current iteration of the Guardians’ bullpen, it’s still a bit bittersweet to him healthy and producing for a division rival.

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