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Cole Ragans Shares Honest Take on His Third Elbow Surgery
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- Cole Ragans Shares Honest Take on His Third Elbow Surgery
(Ken Blaze-Imagn Images)
Kansas City Royals left-hander Cole Ragans underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow on July 1, bringing an already frustrating 2026 season to an end.
The 28-year-old is looking at a 10-to-12-month recovery that will keep him off the mound until at least the middle of next summer.
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Not Dwelling on It
Despite the tough news, Ragans has made it clear that he is not going to let this setback drag him down for long.
"I gave myself a couple of days to be pissed off and all that, but [I] can't sit here and sulk about it over and over," Ragans said. "I got it, and it's done. I look forward to the steps I get to take throughout the rehab to get back out there and play baseball again with these guys."
This is the third major elbow surgery of his career after he went through two Tommy John procedures in 2018 and 2019 while he was still a prospect in the Texas Rangers organization.
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That kind of history raises real questions about whether his arm can hold up long enough for him to be the front-of-the-rotation pitcher the Royals need him to be.
A Major Loss for Kansas City
Ragans was the Royals' Opening Day starter for the third straight year this season, and even though he struggled to a 4.84 ERA across eight starts before hitting the injured list, losing him for another long stretch is a massive blow.
When he is healthy, Ragans is one of the best arms in baseball , the kind of pitcher who finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting in 2024 and led the league in strikeouts per nine innings that same year.
Kansas City came into 2026 believing it had enough to compete, but things have gone sideways fast , and the Royals now sit at 36-54 with the worst record in the American League.
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Starters Kris Bubic , Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna have all been sidelined on top of Ragans, closer Carlos Estévez is hurt, and position players like Vinnie Pasquantino , Maikel Garcia and Jonathan India have all spent time on the injured list.
What Comes Next
The Royals now expect Ragans to return around the 2027 All-Star break at the earliest, and general manager J.J. Picollo has already said he will not be available for Opening Day next year.
The team will need to plan around that when it comes time to build next season's rotation, with Seth Lugo , Michael Wacha and Noah Cameron likely holding down spots while Kansas City searches for answers elsewhere .
For Ragans, this fight is one he has been through before, and he seems set on facing it head on rather than sitting around thinking about what could have been.
His track record of coming back from major elbow surgeries and eventually becoming one of the best pitchers in the game gives real reason to believe he can do it again.
