From his view behind the plate for Kyle Zimmer’s spring training debut in 2013, reserve Royals catcher Cam Gallagher recalled Wednesday, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2012 draft had “electric stuff’ and routinely was throwing 97 or 98 mph.
“’This guy is going to be in the big leagues for a long time,’” Gallagher thought then.
That apparent inevitability, we all know, has been interrupted by an unfathomable conspiracy of injuries and twists — including the Royals releasing him last year after his latest health setback and declaring that time had run out on him.