The Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves have made a pair of swaps involving pitchers, with the Royals acquiring right-hander Kyle Wright and right-hander Nick Anderson in separate trades with the NL East champions, sending right-hander Jackson Kowar and cash to the Braves. In a corresponding move, Kansas City designated left-handed pitcher Austin Cox for assignment.
In the Wright/Kowar trade, the Royals acquired a talented pitcher struggling with injuries, as Wright pitched only 31 innings for Atlanta in 2023, going 1-3 before missing time with a shoulder injury. In 2022, Wright had 21 wins and a 3.19 ERA with 174 strikeouts, finishing tenth in the Cy Young Award balloting in the National League. Wright has selected in the first round (5th overall) by Atlanta in the 2017 Draft out of Vanderbilt.
Kowar was a first round pick of the Royals in the 2018 draft out of the University of Florida. He never reached his potential at the big league level, with a 6.43 ERA in 23 games for the Royals in 2023.
Nick Anderson, headed for KC, is a 33-year old right-hander who was 4-0 for Atlanta in 2023, with a 3.06 ERA in 35 appearances. He missed all of 2022 with an injury, and appeared in only six games with Tampa Bay in 2021 due to injury. In 2020, he helped lead the Rays to the World Series, and was the winning pitcher against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. Anderson was selected by Milwaukee in the 32nd round of the 2012 draft but did not sign, eventually inking with Minnesota as a free agent in 2015.
