What a wild past week it has been for Royals pitching Felipe Paulino.
After having been designated for assingment by the Colorado Rockies early last week, Paulino was traded to the Royals on Thursday evening for cash considerations. Then on Friday after arriving to Dallas to join the team's weekend series against the Rangers, Paulino pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings in his Kansas City debut, giving up just one hit and striking out three.
With how well Paulino pitched on Friday evening, Royals manager Ned Yost has decided it was enough to make a pitching change, and move Paulino to the starting rotation. The 27-year-old right-hander will be taking the spot of rookie Nathan Adcock. Adcock, who started the year in long relief, had recently started two games because of injuries in the Royals rotation.
Paulino, who previously was a starter with the Houston Astros, will make his debut in the starting rotation on Wednesday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium against the Angels. Yost talked about his newest Royal-
"If Adcock had had a real decent start, we'd have probably left [Paulino] in the pen," Yost said. "But Paulino has got more weapons right now. He's got a 98 mile-per-hour four-seamer, he's got a 94 mile-per-hour two-seamer, he's got a slider with as sharp a break as I've seen this year -- he was freakin' snappin'."