Forget February 14, the Royals will make V-day come around all summer.
With Edinson Volquez joining Yordano Ventura and Jason Vargas in the Kansas City rotation, V-day will come around three out of every five (or, if you prefer Roman numerals, V) days this season. And if you think that fact -- that a single major league rotation would have three pitchers whose last names start with a V -- is a bit of a statistical oddity, you'd be right.
It's unprecedented. Well, almost.
In the entire history of Major League Baseball, only two teams have had three V pitchers start a game in the same season -- the 1994 Red Sox and the 2011 Marlins.
In '94, Boston's Tim Van Egmond, Frank Viola and Sergio Valdez each started a game for the Red Sox, albeit in abbreviated stints. The trio combined for 14 starts, with Viola appearing in April and May while Van Egmond and Valdez didn't start until June and July, respectively. They were never all in the rotation at the same time, so the Red Sox didn't have a three-V rotation, per se.
The 2011 Marlins had two V pitchers -- Javier Vazquez and Chris Volstad -- who spent the entire season in Florida's rotation. And the Marlins welcomed Elih Villanueva to the fold for a June 15 doubleheader in Philadelphia. Volstad had pitched the day before and Vazquez would start the day after.
What happened in between was special, in a Moonlight Graham kind of way. In what would be the only time in his life he stood on a mound in a big-league game -- to this point anyway -- Villanueva gave up eight runs (all earned) in three innings and took the loss. He also got to swing the bat, which was more than Burt Lancaster's Field of Dreams character could say, striking out in his only plate appearance.
And so, for that one moment in time -- the only such moment in major league history -- the Marlins had a three-V rotation.
If things go as planned for the Royals, they'll have such moments all season.
Here's a closer look at the vault of vaunted V vets (pitcher version).
• The Royals have cornered the market on V starters, nabbing three of the seven who started a game in 2014. They also faced Detroit's Justin Verlander and San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong in 2014.
• Excluding Vargas and Ventura, four other V pitchers have started a game for Kansas City, totaling seven starts.
Julio Valera started two games in 1996, Brad Voyles made three starts in 2003, Eduardo Villacis appeared once in 2004 and Ryan Verdugo started once in 2012. Vargas and Ventura combined for 60 starts in 2014 alone.
• If Ventura starts on Opening Day, which he is likely to do, he will become the first Royals Opening Day starter with a last name beginning with V. Volquez did it in 2011 with Cincinnati and in 2012 and 2013 with San Diego.
You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.
