<\/p><\/div> Kansas City Royals reliever Carlos Estevez follows through on pitch during Friday\u2019s workout at the club\u2019s spring training complex on Feb. 14 in Surprise, Arizona. <\/p>\n Kansas City Star <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes history does repeat itself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A year ago, Royals fans were nervous about Carlos Est\u00e9vez\u2019s velocity during spring training, and it caught their attention again this month.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Est\u00e9vez walked three in a scoreless inning\u2019s work Wednesday during the Royals\u2019 12-3 loss to the Rangers. The lack of command is not great. But more troubling is the dip in Est\u00e9vez\u2019s velocity, which has been in the 88 mph to 90 mph range this spring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While leading the league in saves last year, Est\u00e9vez was throwing in the mid-90s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The dip in velocity hasn\u2019t escaped the attention of Royals general manager J.J. Picollo, but he\u2019s not sounding an alarm bell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to notice it but we also had the experience of last year, and we went through the same thing,\u201d Picollo said Thursday in a phone interview. \u201cAnd I think last year we were a little bit more nervous about it, because we hadn\u2019t been with him before.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut 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, \u2018Is this normal?\u2019 And they confirmed it for us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo while you would like to see him more in the 91-92 range right now, this is exactly where he was last year.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Est\u00e9vez, 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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\u2019s planned usage for Est\u00e9vez for the coming week.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to get at least two more outings before the start of the season,\u201d Picollo said. \u201cHe\u2019ll throw again probably Saturday, and then he\u2019ll pitch in Texas, so he\u2019s got two more outings. And last year in spring training, he had five outings. This year he\u2019ll have five outings. So when you look at that, he\u2019s right where he typically has been. So we have to go on past history here, and just trust that this is how he operates.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSome guys, they\u2019re firing all cylinders right away, and some guys, it takes a little while. So we looked at last April \u2014 his average velocity jumped from basically like 88 1\/2 to 94 1\/2 once April hit \u2014 so we\u2019re going to be more optimistic about it and less worried about it this year than we were last year.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Jaylon Thompson
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