Cole Ragans’ 2025 season was defined by elite skills wrapped in injury frustration. The Royals’ Opening Day starter exited his sixth start with a left groin injury that required an IL stint. He returned on June 5 before quickly landing back on the shelf with a left rotator cuff strain that ultimately led to a transfer to the 60-day IL.
The left-hander missed more than three months before returning in September, where he logged three starts with a 2.77 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and a 22:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB) over 13 innings.
Fantasy Baseball: Strengths, Weaknesses and 2026 Projection
The surface-level results were a step back from his 2024 All-Star campaign, but the underlying performance remained dominant.
Across 61 2/3 innings, Ragans produced a 38.1 percent strikeout rate against a 7.8 percent walk rate, reflecting one of the most overpowering profiles in baseball when healthy. His fastball-changeup combination continues to generate whiffs at an elite level, and the slider gives him a credible third weapon against right-handers and left-handers.
The clear weakness in Ragans’ profile is durability. Multiple injuries to the lower body and shoulder raise questions about workload and reliability across a full season. There is also the question of how Kansas City manages his innings after an interrupted 2025.
Even with those concerns, Ragans’ strikeout volume and efficiency translate extremely well to Points formats, where missing bats and suppressing free passes are premium traits. His combination of strikeouts, efficiency and legitimate ace upside is intriguing.
For 2026 projections, Ragans profiles as a high-strikeout starter capable of a sub-3.30 ERA with strong WHIP support if he clears 140-plus innings. Even a moderated workload still places him firmly in the mix for weekly Points league ceiling due to strikeout-driven scoring and the chance to earn quality starts when allowed to work deeper into games.
As far as pitcher hierarchy for Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues, I rank him at Tier 3 under Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet and Paul Skenes, among others, and higher than Max Fried, Logan Webb and Freddy Peralta.
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