Royals fans have new reason to riot against The Shredder regarding Carlos Estévez

Kansas City Royals fans already had reason for beef with MLB Network’s “The Shredder” after it disrespectfully omitted Maikel Garcia from the Top 10 third baseman rankings last week.

And this week, Royals fans have every reason to be confused all over again after MLB Network released The Shredder’s Top 10 rankings for relief pitchers.

For context, as per Jason Foster of MLB.com, The Shredder is “the MLB Network research team’s collective system of research and analysis that uses traditional and advanced metrics and takes into account previous player performance to determine who makes the lists.”

One name Royals fans probably had earmarked for a list like this was Carlos Estévez, their closer extraordinaire who led all of Major League Baseball in saves last season.

However, when all was said and done and the list was revealed on Tuesday evening, Estévez was nowhere to be found.

“The Shredder” leaves Royals’ closer and 2025 MLB saves leader, Carlos Estévez off Top 10 relief pitcher rankings

Now, I want to preface, Royals fans can’t be entirely upset as they didn’t go without representation entriely on this list. Their “newcomer” Matt Strahm took up the No.7 ranking on this list, making their trade to re-unite with him look like even more of a steal.

However, that joy will qucikly disipate when the realization set back in that their closer was left off this list.

There were plenty of puzzling decisions here that went beyond the Royals grievances, such as veteran Aroldis Chapman leading the list over names like Cade Smith, Edwin Díaz, Andrés Muñoz

or Mason Miller after just one bounce-back season following five consecutive seasons from 2020-2024 where he posted ERAs over 3.00.

And, as someone that prides themselves in being a believer in analytics, I’m not advocating for Estévez to rank higher than those names, except maybe Chapman due to his questionable recent past if prior performances are truly a factor The Shredder considers.

But even if Estévez isn’t a data-darling like a Smith or a Muñoz, his stats are still respectable and he’s shown he can come in when the pressure is at it’s highest for a reliever in the ninth inning and shut the door far more often than not.

Last season, on top of Estévez converting 42 saves, he posted a very respectable 2.45 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and .198 BAA. And this was after posting an identical 2.45 season the year prior split between the Angels and the Phillies with a 0.91 WHIP and .191 BAA.

Is he the strikeout artist that most of the names on this list are? No. Has he caused some uneasy moments for Royals fans while converting saves? Yes.

However, if we’re just basing this list off strikeout artists, than there’s a series of great pitchers who can generate outs in other ways from consideration all together.

Estévez may’ve only struck out hitters at a 30th percentile rate of 20.1% in 2025, but he was an above-average arm when it came to limiting hard contact and his overall pitching run value sat in the 89th percentile thanks to 76th percentile rankings or better for all his offerings.

Was it pretty? No, but it got the job done and has consistently now for back-to-backs seasons.

And some fans are already posing their displeasure.

Am I saying Estévez is better than Mason Miller? No. But given some of his side-by-sides compared to him, there’s reason to believe Estévez is also a dominant arm.

Looking at some other names on this list that Estévez could have more an argument to surpass, there’s a few notable names that stand out.

Josh Hader, who ranked ninth on this list and for further context posted an identical fWAR to Estévez this season, may’ve topped the Royals anchor across the board this season.

However using The Shredder’s past perfromance criteria, Hader’s 2025 was directly preceeded a near-4.00 ERA and held a 5.22 ERA three seasons prior, showing an every-other-year pattern in terms of elite effectiveness.

And looking at Estévez’s now teammate Strahm, while certainly good, his 2025 output of a 2.74 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and .201 BAA was still inferior, if only slightly, to Estévez’s and he didn’t have the added pressure of closing out games in the ninth.

Now, is Estévez’s omission more egregious than Garcia’s at third? No, absolutely not.

However, looking at other names on this list, it’s hard for anyone to say that an All-Star closer who held the league-lead in saves last season with a strong stat-line for the second consecutive campaign didn’t fit the requirements to crack this list.