You’d think being an All-Star would earn you some respect, even if you pitch for a Kansas City Royals team that doesn’t dominate the headlines.
Carlos Estévez has been excellent for the Royals since signing a two-year, $22 million contract to become the team’s new closer this offseason. He’s not racking up strikeouts, but his 2.81 ERA speaks for itself, and he’s got 30 saves, exactly half of the Royals’ win total entering Wednesday.
Those numbers are befitting of a top 10 closer in the sport, but evidently, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter doesn’t see things that way.
Carlos Estévez lands 15th in Bleacher Report’s closer rankings
On Wednesday, Reuter compiled his ranking of all 30 closers across Major League Baseball, and placed Estévez 15th, a shockingly low ranking for someone of his stature.
“An All-Star in 2023 and 2025, Estévez has emerged as one of the game’s more reliable closers since leaving Coors Field after the 2022 season,” wrote Reuter. “He leads the AL with 30 saves, though his six blown saves also trail only Tanner Scott (7) for the MLB lead and he is carrying a career-low19.6 percent strikeout rate.”
No closer wants to blow saves, but it’s also an inherently flawed stat, especially now that allowing the ghost runner to score in the 10th inning of a one-run game now counts against a pitcher’s total. Estévez also really had just one bad week, when he blew three saves in a row from Jul. 11-18.
Plus, some of the names Reuter placed ahead of Estévez simply haven’t earned that sort of recognition. The San Francisco Giants’ Randy Rodriguez, Chicago Cubs’ Daniel Palencia, Houston Astros’ Bryan Abreu, and Cleveland Guardians’ Cade Smith all took over their teams’ respective closer roles midseason. Others, like Emilio Pagán of the Cincinnati Reds, have had the role all year, but don’t have a track record beyond 2025.
It’s a harmless rankings list, but it illustrates the point that sometimes, Royals players are overlooked for their excellent contributions for one reason or another. This might be a .500 team, but without Estévez, they’d be in much worse position, considering how much turnover the rest of the bullpen has seen.
But if Estévez really wants to leave no doubt that he’s a top-10 closer in baseball, he can prove it by locking down games the rest of the way, as KC attempts to make an improbable wild card push.
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