Erceg preparing to put out fires with more strikeouts

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Outside of what could end up being a crucial addition of left-hander Matt Strahm, the Royals didn’t feel like they had to spend too much time this offseason overhauling and upgrading their bullpen for 2026, largely because of the relievers they had returning.

That includes relying on reigning MLB saves leader Carlos Estévez for the ninth inning again, but there’s arguably no one more important than Lucas Erceg. He’s embraced being a fireman reliever the Royals bring out for the highest-leverage of situations before the ninth inning, often pegged to face the middle of the opposing lineup every time he runs out to the mound.

“He’s seeing the best hitters all the time,” bullpen coach Mitch Stetter said. “He wants that job. He’s ready to go every night. Having a guy like him that you can rely on -- we’re excited for this year.”

Reflecting on his 2025 season, Erceg wasn’t happy about missing time for both a back injury and then a shoulder injury that shut him down before the regular season ended. Part of his offseason was making sure he was back to 100% health and preparing his body to be available for the full year. When he was on the mound, Erceg had a pretty good 2025 on the surface. His ERA was a career-best 2.64. He appeared in the exact same number of games (61) as 2024 and nearly the same innings (61 1/3 in 2025 compared to 61 2/3 in 2024).

• Guardians 6, Royals 2

Digging deeper reveals a different, and perhaps more unsustainable, picture. Erceg’s underlying metrics all took a step back from ‘24, including a big drop in his strikeout rate from 28.5% in 2024 to 19.3% last year. His 6.3% walk rate from two seasons ago went up to 7.2% last year. Opposing batters hit the ball harder (85.9 mph average exit velocity to 89.1 mph) and whiffed less (31% to 24.7%).

What this tells him is that he was still good at preventing runs and getting outs -- that’s what his job is anyway, no matter what -- but there was plenty to clean up.

“All the other numbers were kind of meh,” Erceg said. “The two didn’t really correlate. So that was the biggest shift this offseason, try to figure out how to mesh the two. Have a good ERA and face-value numbers, and then have good underlying numbers.”

Erceg lives in Arizona in the offseason, so when he wasn’t in full dad mode after he and his wife welcomed their baby girl, Elsie, in December, he was able to throw bullpens at the Royals’ facility in Surprise. There were extensive talks about what Erceg could change about his arsenal to help get more swing and miss and help those underlying numbers.

Ultimately, he and the Royals landed on what Erceg was already doing in terms of his pitch shapes. He has good enough stuff. With that peace of mind, his focus turned more to pitch sequence, location and approach. In other words: Actually looking for a strikeout when the opportunity presents itself.

Punchouts are good, and Erceg wants more of them.

“My mindset is going to be a little different,” Erceg said. “Obviously, including weak contact on the first three pitches is what you still want to do. But if I get to two strikes, try and get a punchie. There’s a fine line between simplifying your approach and magnifying it in a way that you can attack and try and go for the punchie, which is something I’ve never really done. I just let my stuff play, and if they swing and miss, they swing and miss.”

Because of his two-seamer, Erceg has always relied on weak contact to get quick outs. He doesn’t want to do away with that completely, especially early in the count -- recording an out on the first three pitches is ideal, right?

But when he has two strikes, Erceg doesn’t want to shy away from the strikeout. Especially when he’s pitching in the late innings of close games with little-to-no room for error.

To do that, he’s working on utilizing his four-seamer up in the zone and slider down in the zone to get swing and miss.

“Any time you can get more swing and miss, you limit the balls in play, and it’s going to help you out,” Stetter said. “We’re always looking for more, whether that comes through sequencing or a certain pitch shape that we can get better and get more swing and miss on it. But Lucas has a good two-seam, it’s one of his best pitches. So we don’t want him to be afraid of weak contact either. We’ve got a good defense. Trust your stuff, and then when you get to two strikes, OK, now go for the swing and miss.”