Royals' dominant bullpen 'fun to watch'

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers' Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The spotlight last week was on the Royals’ rotation -- and rightfully so. Three starters shoved seven scoreless innings apiece in three consecutive games. The rotation ERA is second-best in MLB at 2.97.

But elite pitching has extended to the bullpen.

The Royals’ 3.02 ‘pen ERA ranks fifth in the Majors. Since April 24, the relievers have a 2.02 ERA, and they have allowed zero earned runs in 12 of the 18 games in that stretch.

“It’s creating a mindset or an expectation that we hold ourselves to,” Lucas Erceg said. “And it’s been fun to watch.”

A huge part of the relief success is the dominant duo of Erceg and Carlos Estévez to close out games. The bridge to get to them, though, has evolved lately, especially with Hunter Harvey still sidelined with a right teres major strain.

Here are three developments that stand out:

1. Schreiber’s velo
John Schreiber has averaged around 92-93 mph with his two fastballs for the past two years, but the righty has always wanted to get back to the 94 mph he averaged in 2022 when he was with Boston.

Nagging injuries may have hurt that pursuit, including a right teres major strain in 2023 and a patella tendon injury in ‘24. But nothing major is hindering Schreiber so far this year, which has led to the velocity returning.

A subtle tweak in his mechanics clicked for him a few weeks ago when he lowered his leg lift during his pregame routine. With it, he feels better synced up in his delivery.

And suddenly, 95-96 mph is flashing on the radar gun.

Schreiber averaged 94.6 mph with his four-seamer on April 26, 95.3 mph on April 30 and 96.3 mph on May 3. His sinker is sitting 94-95 mph. Paired with more movement, it has made Schreiber even tougher on righties and more comfortable against lefties.

“Everything just plays better when my velocity is up,” Schreiber said.

Schreiber has a 1.65 ERA this season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 10 appearances since April 16. With Harvey shelved, Schreiber has stepped up big in a similar role.

“A tick in velo makes a big difference,” bullpen coach Mitch Stetter said. “He’s locked in, his pitch shapes are good, his command is good and he’s executing at a high clip.”

2. Cruz’s growth
Steven Cruz has gotten more and bigger opportunities since he came to the big leagues on April 11. There was no higher leverage than what Cruz did on Friday in the 12th inning against the Red Sox, when he recorded two big outs en route to his first Major League win, sealed by Freddy Fermin’s walk-off.

Cruz hasn’t allowed a run in 11 2/3 innings this season. His 19 1/3-inning scoreless streak dates back to Sept. 27, 2023, after he pitched only 5 2/3 innings in the big leagues last season.

But it’s been a steady ascension for the 25-year-old in that span, thanks in large part to his 98-99 mph fastball. The key for Cruz, though, has been improvement of his tight slider.

“Where he gets in trouble is when the cutter and slider blend a little bit,” Stetter said. “Keeping those pitches separated, especially with the velocity, helps him out. If he’s got more depth to the slider, he’s going to get more swing-and-miss.”

Cruz sits 88-90 mph with his slider and 93-95 mph with his cutter. A hand-placement cue helped him improve the depth of the slider this spring. He’s allowed only one hit off the pitch and has a 30.8% whiff rate with that offering this season.

“That was a primary focus in the offseason to get a lot of movement and throw it hard,” Cruz said. “Moving the fingers slightly really helped it. I am trusting it a lot [paired] with the cutter.”

3. Clarke’s slider
Taylor Clarke began the year in Triple-A, but he joined the Kansas City bullpen on May 1. The righty has pitched 5 1/3 innings since and hasn’t allowed a run.

It’s a small sample size, but the biggest difference for Clarke in his return to the Royals -- after an injury-riddled 2024 with the Brewers -- is his slider. He’s throwing it way more, and it’s generating slightly more spin (2,228 rpm this year vs. 2,191 rpm in ‘23).

The goal this spring was to get less vertical movement on it after a conversation with the Royals.

“They kind of broke it down for me numbers-wise, like, ‘Hey, when you throw it [with] two or three less vertical movement on it, the slugging percentage goes down,’” Clarke said. “I went from focusing on the bullet, harder cutter-slider to trying to have a little bit more depth, get under the bats more.”

The adjustment clicked for Clarke in Triple-A while working with pitching coach Dane Johnson. He told Clarke to keep the same grip, but change his hand placement. Throw it like a football by staying on the side of the ball, not behind it.

“That clicked right away,” Clarke said. “All I think about is, it’s the same pitch, but just throwing it like a football.”

Clarke’s slider, which he’s throwing a majority of the time, registered a 4.9-inch vertical break induced in 2023. So far this season, it’s at 2.8 inches.

“When it gets around or below two[-inch] vertical break, we’ve seen more swing-and-miss, and just better results,” Stetter said. “Just changing the thought process of getting over the ball a little bit to create the depth has helped him a lot.”