Royals Pitching Prospect Opens Up About Area Of Improvement

The Kansas City Royals have taken a chance on Justin Lamkin, an intriguing arm out of Texas A&M during the 2025 MLB Draft, selecting him 71st overall. 

The 22-year-old left-hander compiled a 2.04 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with 53 strikeouts through 39.2 innings during his first season in the Royals' farm system. Lamkin's efforts earned him a spot on the All-Spring Breakout First Team even as his season was cut short in May due to a left shoulder injury.

However, his transition to professional ball from the college level was a bit of a learning curve given that Lamkin only had three pitches at his disposal--a fastball, slider and changeup. Aware that this certainly would not fly in higher levels of the game, he got to work with his coaches to develop a much-needed breaking ball.

"I didn't have a curveball in college," Lamkin said, according to MLB.com. "That was something I took into last offseason, and we had a pitch design group. So I was in that to add a fourth pitch to the arsenal, give a different look to righties at least so it's not just fastball-slider. But I just stuck with it and trusted in our coaches."

Lamkin made his most recent start for the Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League on Thursday, allowing just one earned run and a single hit while fanning three batters through four innings, getting one hitter out on the curveball to hand the team a dominant 17-8 victory. That pitch saw an increase in usage with Lamkin turning to it 37% of the time compared to 25% last Tuesday when he surrendered four earned runs across three innings.

Lamkin's curve has topped off at around 78-81 mph, generating a whiff rate of 41.2% on 17 swings as hitters missed on it seven times. Meanwhile, his fastball has gone up to 93-95 mph compared to 91-93 from his time as an Aggie. 

Still, Lamkin made it clear that he intends to keep grinding rather than growing complacent.

"I think [you have to] really stay on top of your stuff," he said. "That was my first time really getting injured, so it kind of happened out of nowhere. It's not like I felt something earlier in the week. It was just on the spot like that before a start. So just like dialing in my routine and see if I can do a little bit extra here and there to get the body to where it needs to be."

While Lamkin is still at least two to three years away from potentially cracking Kansas City's major-league roster, he's shown flashes of success not only with his emerging talent but also his mindset.

For now, Lamkin will look to remain healthy and continue working on his ability to keep opposing batters guessing on a regular basis.

The Royals' big-league rotation should see the return of veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha as well as Noah Cameron who had a promising season this year. Stephen Kolek and Cole Ragans are expected to come back as well while Luinder Avila recovers from season-ending Tommy John surgery.