MLB · P · Kansas City Royals
Stephen Kolek
B/T R/R · 6' 3" · 210 lb · born Houston, TX, USA · age 29 · draft 2018 rd 11 · played P 15 · MLB debut 2024-03-21
Injured 60-Day · Right flexor strain. (roster status, as of )
224 batters faced scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
Stephen Kolek, 29, is a 6'3" right-hander from Houston — a 2018 eleventh-round pick who reached the majors last spring — with 150 strikeouts in 71 career games.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
What he’s paid
Pre-arbitrationA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s, as of .
- 2026 salary
- $0.79Mest
- Tax hit
- $0.79M
- Service time
- 1 yr 99 d
- Options left
- 2 / 3
The deal 1 year $0.8M (2026)
On the sheet: 1 y/$793,250 (26)
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | Arb 1 | Arb 2 | Arb 3 |
| Tax hit | — | — | — |
Regime read from his service time, not from the sheet — it does not project him past this season. Super Two eligibility is the top 22% of a class and can move this line in a way service time alone cannot see.
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Kansas City Royals.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $0.79M
- Guaranteed
- $0.79M
- Term
- 1 yr
- His class
- Pre-Arb
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | Minimum | Minimum | Arb 1 | Arb 2 | Arb 3 |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
Two sources, read a month apart, put this guarantee at the same dollar. That is the check, and it passed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect Stephen Kolek
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Stephen Kolek cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Not financial advice. We take positions only after publication — never before. Misses stay on the record.
Umpire favor
-0.7 net runs over 10 graded games — the zone cost the umpire more than it gave, on balance.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →