2013 Natural Yordano Ventura Speeds Up Royals Rotation

2013 Natural Yordano Ventura Speeds Up Royals Rotation

Springdale, Ark. - Coined "Ace" Ventura during his time throughout the minors, Ventura has taken that next step towards eventually becoming the ace of the Royals rotation. After signing with the Royals in 2008 as an amateur free agent out of Samana, Dominican Republic, Ventura has cracked the Major League opening day rotation before his 23rd birthday. 

Initally in a fight for the fifth spot in the Kansas City Royals rotation to start the spring, Yordano Ventura has surpassed expectations in posting a minuscule 1.76 ERA across 15 plus innings of work. On Monday night, Royals Manager Ned Yost announced, via royals.com, Ventura as the Royals third starter to open the season.

"It doesn't do any good to drag this stuff on," Yost said. "Really, after an outing like tonight, after the outings he's had all spring, it would look foolish if you continued to hold your cards close to your chest. So I decided to just go ahead and do it now. Everybody in Kansas City saw it today. It's so obvious."

In addition to his over-powering combination of a fastball that reaches 101 mph, with mid-80s breaking stuff, Ventura has issued only one free pass, and one hit by pitch through three starts in Surprise, Ariz., while striking out 15.  

Rated 12th overall among MLB prospects by BaseballProspectus.com heading into the 2014 season, strikeouts are nothing new for the 22 year-old. He averaged 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings in 11 starts for Northwest Arkansas last season, prior to his June promotion to Triple-A Omaha. In the Pacific Coast League, Ventura posted a 3.74 ERA across 77 innings while recording 81 strikeouts. He would make just 14 starts at the Triple-A level before earning a late season call up in 2013. Despite an 0-1 record for the Royals over three starts in September, the 5'11" righty certainly proved he was plenty capable to handle the bright lights. Ventura posted 11 strikeouts, while allowing over one run just once in the three starts. 

The Seventh Season of Naturals Baseball begins Thursday, April 3, 2014 in Frisco, TX. The team opens at Arvest Ballpark on Thursday April 10, 2014 against the same Frisco RoughRiders.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, AR. For more information including statistics, ticket options, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.

-Naturals-