All-Star P Cole Ragans signs 3-year deal with Royals after breakout season that garnered Cy Young consideration

All-Star pitcher Cole Ragans has a new contract with the Kansas City Royals following a breakout season that garnered Cy Young consideration.

The Royals announced the deal on Friday. It will run through the 2027 season. Per multiple reports, the contract is valued at $13.5 million.

Ragans, 27, signed the deal after this third MLB season. A former first-round pick by the Texas Rangers, Ragans has played with the Royals since being traded to Kanas City during his second MLB season in 2023. The Rangers acquired Aroldis Chapman in the deal during their World Series championship campaign. Ragans’ long-term upside unclear at the time after he’d undergone two Tommy John surgeries as a minor leaguer.

Ragans paid off on the trade in his first full season in Kansas City in 2024 that produced a 3.14 ERA with 223 strikeouts and 67 walks in 186.1 innings pitched. His rate of 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings was best in the American League.

Ragans was named to his first All-Star team in 2024 and finished the season fourth in AL Cy Young voting. Now he has a long-term deal as Kansas City’s ace and a key member of a young core that led the Royals to their first postseason appearance since their World Series victory in 2015.

Per MLB.com, the Royals bought out two of Ragans’ arbitration years with the contract. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again in 2028 after the conclusion of his contract before his first season of free-agency eligibility the following offseason. He’s slated to make $7.5 million in 2027, a number that will increase to $8 million if he wins the Cy Young in the next two seasons, per the report.