Kansas City Royals reliever Carlos Estevez follows through on pitch during Friday’s workout at the club’s spring training complex on Feb. 14 in Surprise, Arizona.
Kansas City Star
Sometimes history does repeat itself.
A year ago, Royals fans were nervous about Carlos Estévez’s velocity during spring training, and it caught their attention again this month.
Estévez walked three in a scoreless inning’s work Wednesday during the Royals’ 12-3 loss to the Rangers. The lack of command is not great. But more troubling is the dip in Estévez’s velocity, which has been in the 88 mph to 90 mph range this spring.
While leading the league in saves last year, Estévez was throwing in the mid-90s.
The dip in velocity hasn’t escaped the attention of Royals general manager J.J. Picollo, but he’s not sounding an alarm bell.
“It’s hard not to notice it but we also had the experience of last year, and we went through the same thing,” Picollo said Thursday in a phone interview. “And I think last year we were a little bit more nervous about it, because we hadn’t been with him before.
“But not only did he tell us that this is how he always starts in spring training, but the other clubs he had been with, our coaches called their coaches and asked, ‘Is this normal?’ And they confirmed it for us.
“So while you would like to see him more in the 91-92 range right now, this is exactly where he was last year.”
Estévez, 33, had 42 saves in 2025 with 54 strikeouts in 66 innings. That rate of 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings was the lowest of his career.
The Royals finish Cactus League play Saturday, then travel to Texas to face the Rangers in exhibition games on Monday and Tuesday in Arlington. Picollo outlined the team’s planned usage for Estévez for the coming week.
“He’s going to get at least two more outings before the start of the season,” Picollo said. “He’ll throw again probably Saturday, and then he’ll pitch in Texas, so he’s got two more outings. And last year in spring training, he had five outings. This year he’ll have five outings. So when you look at that, he’s right where he typically has been. So we have to go on past history here, and just trust that this is how he operates.
“Some guys, they’re firing all cylinders right away, and some guys, it takes a little while. So we looked at last April — his average velocity jumped from basically like 88 1/2 to 94 1/2 once April hit — so we’re going to be more optimistic about it and less worried about it this year than we were last year.”
The Kansas City Star
From covering the World Series to the World Cup, Pete Grathoff has done a little bit of everything since joining The Kansas City Star in 1997.
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