Royals Purchase John Gants Contrac

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The Royals have purchased the contract of right-hander from the Atlantic Leagues Long Island Ducks, according to a report from . Gant will report to clubs Triple-A affiliate in Omaha. Its an exciting turn of events of Gant, who last pitched in the majors back in 2021 and hasnt pitched much since. A 21st-round pick by the Mets all the way back in 2011, Gant was traded twice before he fully established himself in the majors: once from New York to Atlanta in the 2015 trade, and a second time from Atlanta to St. Louis prior to the 2017 season in exchange for . In between those two deals, Gant made his big league debut and pitched to a 4.86 ERA with a 4.39 FIP in a 50-inning cup of coffee with the Braves during the 2016 season. The majority of Gants time in the majors came as a member of the Cardinals, however. The right-hander made just seven appearances with the club in 2017 but Matt Vierling Jersey was a fixture of the clubs pitching staff as soon as the 2018 season, when he posted a 3.47 ERA (112 ERA+) in 114 innings of work spread acro s 19 starts and seven relief outings. His 4.07 FIP and pedestrian 19.5% strikeout rate both stood out as potential red flags about his abilities in that role, however, and so the Cardinals moved him to the bullpen full time ahead of the 2019 campaign. Gant spent two years as a full-time reliever for the Cards, and pitched quite well in that time with a 3.43 ERA (123 ERA+) and a matching 3.44 FIP thanks to a more robust 23.6% strikeout rate. That strong performance in relief was enough to earn Gant another crack at starting in 2021, and it went fairly well early in the season. On June 1 of that year, Gant pitched six scorele s frames to lower his ERA to 1.60 on the year through 50 2/3 innings of work. That impre sive figure was belied by a 4.02 FIP, but even replicating that figure the rest of the way would have been enough to make Gant a solid mid-rotation arm. Unfortunately, Gant was torched for 18 runs acro s 14 innings in his final four starts of the year for the Cardinals before moving back to the bullpen. With a 1.54 ERA (albeit one that was once again paired with a lackluster FIP of 4.71) in 11 relief appearances, Gants value was able to recover enough that the Cardinals swapped him to the Twins for veteran southpaw at the trade deadline. Gant pitched decently in seven relief outings for Minnesota but floundered once moved back into the rotation for the stretch run, surrendering a 6.12 ERA in 25 innings of work acro s seven starts in August and September. The Twins decided to cut bait on the righty after the 2021 season, and he elected free agency after clearing outright waivers that November. Once he became a free agent, he signed with the NPBs Nippon-Ham Fighters to play in Japan during the 2022 season. Unfortunately, he was largely sidelined for the 2022-24 seasons, making just three appearances for the Fighters in 2023 and mi sing the other two seasons in that window entirely. Hes re-emerged with the Ducks in 2025, however, and in his age-32 campaign hes looked dominant with a 1.71 ERA acro s four starts while striking out 35.5% of opponents. Independent league play is obviously a far cry from the majors, but that level of dominance was still enough to get the attention of a Royals club in need of some extra starting pitching depth after losing and to the injured list this weekend. Javier Baez Jersey