Kansas City Royals Lose Injury-Prone Pitching Prospect For Entire 2024 Season

Kansas City Royals prospect Asa Lacy has undergone UCL reconstruction surgery and will miss all of 2024, the left-handed pitcher announced Wednesday.

Lacy, 24, was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. The Texas A&M product already missed the entire 2023 season, and now he won't be available again until 2025.

Here is the full message Lacy posted on Instagram:

Not how I thought 2024 was going to go, but God has a plan for all of us. Thank you for all who reached out with the encouraging words and prayers. The love and belief in me from y’all has not gone unnoticed. I had a full UCL reconstruction and it went well. Thank you to Dr. ElAttrache and his staff for taking great care of me today. I have been dealt a substantial amount of adversity in my career so this is another opportunity to grow as a player and a man. I’m determined to attack the challenges ahead and comeback better and stronger. I am blessed to be surrounded by such a great support group from my parents, the Kansas City Royals, to friends and teammates all over. My passion and love for this game has never been stronger. Best of luck to all my teammates in 2024. I’ll see y’all on the mound in 2025

Lacy was a shutdown starter in college, going 14-5 with a 2.07 ERA, 1.013 WHIP and 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings as a member of the Aggies.

It was a tough transition to professional ball for Lacy, who went 2-5 with a 5.19 ERA in High-A in 2021. He split his time between the Rookie and Double-A levels in 2022, going 2-2 with a 10.61 ERA.

Lacy was ranked as the No. 30 prospect in baseball entering 2021. By the time the 2022 preseason rankings came out, Lacy had dropped to No. 72, and he hasn't appeared in the Top 100 after that.

With just 80.0 professional innings under his belt, Lacy hasn't had much of a chance to turn things around on the mound. And with another injury knocking him out for another whole year, Lacy will have to wait a little longer before he next attempts to take the next step in his progression.