With the Kansas City Royals fighting to remain in the mix of the AL Central, the club received some concerning news regarding one of their starting pitchers. Reports indicate that Cole Ragan's injury is potentially more serious than previously thought, and the club is currently waiting for test results.

Ragans is dealing with a rotator cuff strain, according to Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Manager Matt Quatraro claims the club has yet to determine how long the 27-year-old pitcher will be out for, but it sounds like Ragans will be on the injured list for quite some time.

“Royals didn't provide many details about the severity of Ragans' rotator cuff strain. Quatraro said that they were waiting for a few test results to come back before determining severity and timeline. Doesn't sound like it will be a quick IL stint like last time, though.”

Rogers reports that the Royals had originally hoped for Cole Ragans to return to the mound soon after initially injuring his shoulder in the previous week. But Ragans felt something wrong with his shoulder despite Kansas City giving him a few extra days to rest to manage the injury.

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“Ragans felt shoulder soreness after his start last week against STL. Team had pushed Ragans back a few days in the rotation to see if it would go away. He was feeling OK, then it popped up again, playing catch [Tuesday]. That led to getting scans/testing.”

The Royals will continue to monitor Ragans' status closely. In an ideal world, Ragans avoids a tear in his rotator cuff and only needs to be on the 10 or 15-day IL. But a trip to the 60-day IL is certainly in play.

It's been a rocky season for the 2024 All-Star, as Ragans has not been as effective this season as he was last year. Through 48.2 innings pitched, the Royals' starting pitcher owns a 5.18 ERA and 1.295 WHIP while recording 76 strikeouts.