MLB Rumors: Royals Changing Closer After Just Three Games

Kansas City Royals' Carlos Estevez led all of baseball with 42 saves last year, made the All-Star team, and entered 2026 as one of the most reliable ninth-inning arms in the sport. 

He has thrown one regular season inning so far. It did not go well. 

Estevez allowed six runs against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, gave up a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith, threw just 13 of 27 pitches for strikes, took a Michael Harris II line drive off his left ankle, and ended up in a walking boot the next morning. 

Manager Matt Quatraro came out Sunday and said, without much ambiguity, that Estevez might not be closing games for a while. Lucas Erceg converted a save in Sunday's 4-1 win over Atlanta.

The Number That Should Concern Kansas City

The ankle contusion is the immediate issue, but it might not even be the biggest problem. 

Estevez's fastball velocity has been trending the wrong direction for two years, from 97.5 miles per hour in 2022, to 97.1 in 2023, to 96.8 in 2024, to 95.9 last season. 

On Saturday against Atlanta, he averaged 91.2 miles per hour. That's nearly five full miles per hour below where he was just one year ago, and it was actually an improvement over the 89-90 he was sitting at during spring training. 

There has to be a serious talk about moving Carlos Estévez off of the closer role for the Royals

Estévez's fastball velocity is down 4.7 MPH from 2025. His changeup? Down 5.6 MPH 📉

With Lucas Erceg in the mix, it'll be interesting to see how long Estévez remains the KC closer pic.twitter.com/4skamVxpkN

— High Leverage Baseball (@HighLevBaseball) March 29, 2026

His slider and changeup have dropped similarly, and without that velocity, the movement profiles on both pitches have shifted in ways that make them easier to track. Quatraro was candid about where the decision will ultimately come from. "It will be more based on what we see, whether that velo is coming," the manager said. 

There's some reason for cautious optimism, as Estevez was slow to ramp up last spring too before finding his rhythm and saving 42 games. 

He also only threw one inning of WBC work for the Dominican Republic, which limited his spring build-up. But 91 miles per hour in the regular season, against a lineup he should be shutting down, is a different kind of alarm bell than a slow spring. 

Who Closes for the Royals If Estevez Can't Go?

Erceg is the obvious answer and has already stepped into the role without incident. 

The righty posted a 2.64 ERA across 61.1 innings last season in 61 appearances and converted Sunday's save cleanly, inducing a game-ending double play on just 12 pitches. 

Matt Strahm and Alex Lange are also in the mix as options with closing experience. Quatraro has made clear the plan isn't to completely abandon Estevez, but to get him lower-leverage innings where he can work through his mechanical issues, build back his pitch count, and hopefully get his body moving the way it needs to for the velocity to return. 

Carlos Estevez is cooked. VELO has been sitting 88-90 all Spring, you just cannot expect to close out MLB games sitting 90/91 MPH, any team that has a closer who throws 90/91 is just asking to lose games pic.twitter.com/w2P0cAbJl0

— Goldschmidt Happened (@GoldyHappens) March 29, 2026

"He's not going to go from 91 to 98 today," Quatraro said. "He's got to build up." Estevez himself remains confident. "I know what I can do," he said. "I've done it before. I know how to get back to that." 

He's right that he has. The question for Kansas City, a team with real AL Central ambitions, is how long they can wait to find out.

Photo Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images