Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro reacts after Mitch Spence turns heads during Spring Training outing

Kansas City Royals pitcher Mitch Spence drew attention during his first Spring Training outing after showing a clear increase in velocity. The right hander took the mound last weekend in Arizona and delivered a short but notable appearance against the Milwaukee Brewers. Radar gun readings during the game highlighted a jump in speed compared with his numbers from the 2025 season.

Spence threw two innings in the appearance and recorded two strikeouts. His cutter averaged 92.7 mph while his sinker reached 94.9 mph. The numbers quickly became a talking point as the Royals coaching staff evaluated pitchers during the early days of Spring Training.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro speaks out after Mitch Spence’s sudden velocity jump during early Spring Training appearance

Spence’s pitch speed during the Brewers game showed a noticeable increase compared with last season. During the 2025 season with the Athletics, he averaged 91.1 mph on his cutter and 92.6 mph on his sinker across 32 appearances.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro said the difference in velocity was clear during the outing. “He's thrown three to four miles an hour harder. That's a huge jump,” Quatraro said. “And that gives hitters a lot less time to react.”

The Royals had already been familiar with Spence before he joined the organization. Quatraro said the pitcher’s recent performances have also shown improvement in other areas.

“He's been very interesting,” Quatraro said. “The velo has really ticked up and the slider has gotten much, much sharper. So it's a really interesting look.”

Spence said his offseason preparation focused on improving his mechanics and building strength. The pitcher worked through a training program and physical therapy sessions during the winter.

“The biggest thing this offseason was just cleaning up some stuff with my mechanics,” Spence said. “I started going to physical therapy and just kind of got my arm stronger from the workout program. I think it just kind of clicked.”

Spence also said he has spent time refining his sinker over the past few seasons. The pitch again reached 94.9 mph during another outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Now it's been fantastic,” Spence said. “So now it's just trying to figure out when to use it, how to use it and just build confidence with it.”

Spence said his focus during Spring Training is getting comfortable with the Royals and building innings. The pitcher explained that the process involves learning how the new team operates.

“They're still trying to probably get to know me and figure out how I kind of go about things,” Spence said. “The biggest thing right now is just getting comfortable and getting acclimated over here and trying to get some innings under my belt.”

Spence’s path to the majors included being selected by the Athletics with the first overall pick of the Major League phase of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. He was chosen from the Triple A roster of the Scranton Wilkes Barre RailRiders.


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