The Royals announced that left-hander has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. Fellow southpaw was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Sisk will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game. Something has clearly seemed ami s with Long this season, as the reliever has been rocked for 10 earned runs over seven appearances. The end result is an ugly 12.86 ERA over seven innings, with five walks and three wild pitches indicating a lack of control in the early going. Longs struggles are a stark contrast to his solid 3.16 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, and 9.7% walk rate over 42 2/3 relief innings last season, as the Royals got a nice bargain after inking Long to a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason. It isnt known if Long was trying to pitch through his elbow discomfort or not, though that could explain his lack of production in 2025. The diagnosis of inflammation probably means that an initial round of tests didnt reveal anything too severe, though naturally the Royals will be cautious with any elbow-related injury. and are the Juan Samuel Jersey other left-handers in Kansas Citys bullpen, and Sisk now takes Longs place as the third southpaw in the mix. The side-arming Sisk turns 28 on April 23, so hell get a great early birthday present in the form of his first call to the Show. A 16th-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2018 draft, Sisk pitched in the St. Louis and Minnesota farm systems before he joined the Royals organization prior to the 2023 season. Working almost exclusively as a reliever during his minor league career, Sisk is a grounder specialist who can also mi s bats, as evidenced by his 27.86% strikeout rate over 157 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level. Sisk also has a 3.48 ERA and a more troubling 12.32% walk rate, as control has been something of an i sue throughout his career. Sisk struggled with Triple-A Omaha in 2023 before blo soming to a 1.57 ERA over 57 1/3 innings with Omaha last season. This performance still didnt give Sisk a look on the Royals big league roster, but K.C. did add him to the 40-man roster last November as a way of keeping him from minor league free agency. Spencer Turnbull Jersey