Kudrna (elbow) underwent olecranon stress fracture fixation surgery Wednesday.
Kudrna suffered a stress fracture in his right elbow while making his season debut in the minors April 5, and he's now set to miss an extended period of time after undergoing surgery. The Royals haven't announced a return timeline for the 26-year-old righty, though he's likely to miss multiple months.
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Royals' Ben Kudrna: Moved to Triple-A IL
Rotowire
Triple-A Omaha placed Kudrna on its 7-day injured list Tuesday due to right elbow discomfort, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.
Kudrna suffered the elbow injury during his 2026 debut this past Sunday, when he yielded two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out two across two innings. He'll get a second opinion on his injury before the Royals provide an updated timeline for his return to the mound.
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Royals' Ben Kudrna: Moving up to Double-A
Rotowire
Kudrna was promoted from High-A Quad Cities to Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday.
Kudrna gets the call to Double-A just over a year after his move to High-A. This year, he posted a 3.49 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 71:32 K:BB over 69.2 innings for Quad Cities while starting all 14 of his appearances. He has clear strikeout upside, but he'll need to work on his walk rate -- he had a 4.2 BB/9 this season and will likely be challenged in that regard by moving up a level.
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Royals' Ben Kudrna: Heads to High-A
Rotowire
The Royals promoted Kudrna from Single-A Columbia to High-A Quad Cities on Wednesday.
Though Kudrna's numbers at Columbia this season (3.50 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 66:26 K:BB in 64.1 innings) don't vary wildly from his ratios in 2022 with the same affiliate (3.61 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 61:32 K:BB in 72.1 innings), the Royals evidently saw enough growth from the 20-year-old right-hander to bump him up a level. He's the second major Royals pitching prospect to move from Single-A to High-A within the past two weeks, as Frank Mozzicato got the call to Quad Cities on July 2.
