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Perhaps no position is more volatile in Major League Baseball than the closer role, so Kansas City Royals fans understandably have their guard up. <\/p>\n
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For the second-straight season since he signed with the Royals as a free agent, Carlos Est\u00e9vez came into camp posting significantly slower fastball velocities than he averaged during the previous regular season. The good news was that he bounced back to his norm last offseason, but that’s not a guarantee that it happens again with another season of wear and tear. <\/p>\n
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As the reigning major league saves leader enters his age-33 season, his organization still seems exceptionally confident in his ability to get the job done, which probably involves him rediscovering that velocity once again. <\/p>\n
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If you like our content,\u00a0<\/em>choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though Est\u00e9vez was sitting between 88-90 mph with his fastball during Wednesday’s spring training outing, general manager J.J. Picollo indicated the next day that he wasn’t ready to hit the panic button, suggesting this was the norm with the two-time All-Star. <\/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 told Pete Grathoff<\/a> of the Kansas City Star. \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. So while you would like to see him more in the 91-92 range right now, this is exactly where he was last year.” <\/p>\n <\/p>\nRoyals not sounding alarm on Est\u00e9vez<\/h2>\n