Brady Singer

Brady Alan Singer

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 180 lb.
• School University of Florida
• High School Eustis High School
• Debut July 25, 2020

• Born August 4, 1996 in Leesburg, FL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Brady Singer was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft but did not sign, choosing to go to the University of Florida instead. In 2018, he was drafted again, this time with the 18th overall pick, by the Kansas City Royals. Heading into the draft, he was considered the #2 college pitcher available, after #1 overall pick Casey Mize and was described as "nearly major league ready", so it was a surprise that he was not picked earlier. He was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award after the season, alongside Mize, but lost out to Andrew Vaughn. He did win the Dick Howser Trophy, the other major college baseball prize, however. He signed with the Royals for a bonus of $4.25 million. He did not make his professional pitching debut that year. The following Christmas, he revealed that he did not use the bonus money to buy himself a fancy car, as is often the case, but instead to pay off his parents' debt, as a thank you for supporting and accompanying him on his journey to becoming a top prospect.

He was named to the roster of the American League team for the 2019 Futures Game. He made his major league debut one year later, on July 25, 2020, starting the Royals' second game of the season against the Cleveland Indians after the season's start had been pushed back almost four months by the COVID-19 pandemic. He gave up 2 runs in 5 innings that day, ending up with a no-decision, and took his regular turn in the starting rotation all year (the season was cut down to 60 games), going 4-5, 4.06 in 12 starts. It was a solid debut, but he took a step back in 2021, falling to 5-10, 4.91 in 27 starts. Still, his strikeout rate was very good, at 131 in 128 1/3 innings and he seemed to be the most promising among a group of recently drafted pitchers by the Royals.

In 2022, he too a big step forward, going 10-5, 3.23 for a Royals team that lost 97 games. he easily led the team in wins (reliever Scott Barlow was second with 7) as well as innings pitched (153 1/3) and strikeouts (150). All of the other young starters mentioned in the previous paragraph, he was the only one to have a positive record: Brad Keller, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic and Jonathan Heasley all had a losing record - as a group they went 17-50, and all had an ERA above 5.00, Brady was looked upon as a future ace at that point, but he fell back significantly in 2023, to 8-11, 5.52, a record that would have fitted in nicely with the four aforementioned rotation mates of the previous season. He was passed in the team's plans by a mid-season acquisition, Cole Ragans, who pitched like an ace the final two months of the season.

The Royals took a big step forward as a team in 2024, ending a postseason drought that dated back to the World Series title in 2015. Brady got his ERA back into solid territory that season, to 3.71 in a career-high 179 2/3 innings, good for an ERA+ of 114, but in spite of the team's winning record, his own record was just 9-13. There was some bad luck involved, as his strikeout rate was still good, with 170 Ks. Three members of the starting rotation won in double figures - Ragans and veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, who had both been signed as free agents over the winter, while Alec Marsh ended up at 9-9 in spite of a much poorer ERA (4.53). In practice, it meant that Singer was pushed aside when it was time to set the starting rotation for the postseason, and he ended up facing a grand total of one batter that fall: he struck out Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees at a key juncture of Game 3 of the Division Series on October 9th, to keep the game at 2-2 in the middle of the 7th inning, but it was Bubic who came to pitch the 8th inning (and who was ultimately charged with the 3-2 loss). Following the season, on November 22nd, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in return for two established players, 2B Jonathan India and OF Joey Wiemer, as the reds were looking at him as the future anchor of their starting rotation. Ironically, India and Singer had been teammates at the University of Florida a few years earlier.

Further Reading

• Mark Sheldon: "Reds trade for Singer, send India, Wiemer to Royals", mlb.com, November 22, 2024. [1]
• Lynn Worthy (Kansas City Star): "Changeup has been key to Brady Singer’s success since rejoining Kansas City Royals", Yahoo! News, May 23, 2022. [2]

Related Sites

• Brady Singer on mlb.com
• BR Minors page