Kansas City Royals re-sign veteran starting pitcher Zack Greinke to one-year contract

The Royals have officially re-signed right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke to a one-year contract, they announced Friday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a corresponding move, pitcher Anthony Misiewicz was designated for assignment.

“Definitely excited to be back,” Greinke said. “This was the No. 1 place I was hoping to be.”

Greinke, 39, went 4-9 with a 3.68 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 26 starts (137 innings pitched) with Kansas City in 2022. The 2023 season will mark Greinke’s 20th in the big leagues.

“I enjoyed last season, probably the most fun I had in a while,” Greinke said. “Even though we didn’t win a lot of games, the team was a lot of fun to play with. A lot of reasons to keep playing.”

Retirement was never really option.

“The family likes me playing, I like playing,” he said. “I feel like I’m still solid. I’ll keep trying it.”

He reached several milestones last season, including making his 500th career start on June 29 vs. Texas, becoming one of 48 pitchers to reach that mark, one of only 28 in the Expansion Era (since 1961) and the first since CC Sabathia made his 500th start with the Yankees on Aug. 1, 2017.

Among the group of 28 pitchers with 500 starts since 1961, Greinke’s career win percentage of .613 (223-141) ranks 6th, trailing only Roger Clemens (.658), Randy Johnson (.646), Mike Mussina (.638), Jim Palmer (.638) and Andy Pettitte (.626).

Greinke finished the season with 514 career starts, including 195 with the Royals (37.9%), nine starts behind Danny Duffy (204) for the seventh most in franchise history.

Greinke, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, has not committed an error since July 5, 2019, going 82 consecutive appearances (81 starts) and 461.2 innings without a miscue.

Greinke’s 223 career wins are second most among active pitchers behind Justin Verlander (226). He has 2,882 career strikeouts, which ranks third among active players and Greinke was asked if joining the 3,000-strikeout club is a motivating factor.

“Some days it does, some days I don’t care at all about it,” Greinke said.

Greinke was originally selected by Kansas City sixth overall in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft and spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Royals

He is one of three pitchers in Major League history with at least six Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and six All-Star appearances, including Greg Maddux and Bob Gibson.

Greinke is one of three pitchers to win a Cy Young Award, a Rawlings Gold Glove Award and a Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award, along with Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.