The Kansas City Royals have struggled in all aspects at least once this season. This time, it is their closer.
The Royals signed Carlos Estevez last offseason to be their closer, and last year that worked great. This year, Estevez got one appearance in the second game of the season, gave up six runs, went on the IL, had a rehab appearance, and once again has been shelved.
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The Royals felt like they were in a good spot even without Estevez because they had a high-leverage situation proven pitcher and former closer in Lucas Erceg.
In 2024, Erceg’s last season as a closer for the Royals, he did well. He had a 2.88 ERA in 23 games, with 11 saves, in 25.0 innings pitched, 31 strikeouts, a 0.84 WHIP, and a 0.7 WAR. In the playoffs, he had a 3.00 ERA, with three saves, in six innings pitched, with six strikeouts.
Oddly enough, even with Erceg proving that he could close games out and doing so well he could even go for six-out saves, the Royals opted to sign Estevez to the closer role.
In Erceg’s first full season as a Royal, he did well. He had a 2.64 ERA in 61 games, with two saves, 48 strikeouts, a 1.17 WHIP, and a 1.5 WAR.
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He essentially spent the season being the setup man for Estevez and did a great job at it.
Onto this season, Erceg has started it very inconsistently, showing signs of being very dominant and slowly starting to not be as great.
In 2026, he has a 5.06 ERA in 22 games, with 11 saves, four blown saves, two losses, 13 walks, 23 hits allowed, a 1.68 WHIP, across 21.1 innings pitched.
So what is the resolution for this? That answer might just be in their bullpen in a former starting pitcher, Daniel Lynch IV.
Daniel Lynch IV, among many others, has had a few rough outings, but he has been way better than not. Even better, he has the ability to pitch two-plus innings.
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So far this season, Lynch IV has a 1.59 ERA in 22 games, with one save, a 1-0 record, 27 strikeouts, only 13 hits allowed, seven walks, seven runs allowed across 22.2 innings pitched, and a 0.88 WHIP.
Daniel Lynch IV has shown that he is a very solid bullpen arm, and the fact that he can get more than three outs adds even more value to him and the idea of converting him to the closer role.
The Royals have to make a change with their closer role soon. The Royals are only falling further behind in the AL Central, and every save situation is becoming even more crucial. Daniel Lynch IV seems to be the perfect fit.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
