KANSAS CITY – A few weeks ago, a Royals starter found himself in a jam early in the game. With his pitch count rapidly rising, the Royals’ bullpen began to stir. Reliever Daniel Lynch IV can’t remember the exact date, but he does remember the lesson.
He stood up from the bench to go get his warmup bands and start his routine in case the bullpen phone rang.
That is, until a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“Sit down,” Matt Strahm remembers telling Lynch. “This isn’t you. Just chill.”
“He’s like, ‘Huh, I’m just so used to doing all this.’ I was like, ‘Well, now you learn how to save yourself for the leverage.’”
The 34-year-old Strahm, an 11-year big leaguer, said he sees his 28-year-old self in Lynch, which just so happens to be the age Strahm converted to a full-time reliever with the Padres in 2020 after beginning his career as a starter. Lynch, 29, came up through the Royals’ system as a starter and spent his first three years in the Majors as a starter. In 2024, he began a transition to the bullpen and has been a full-time reliever the past two seasons.
This year, the lefty has pitched himself into one of the highest-leverage relievers the Royals deploy in the back end of games, and his 1.59 ERA entering Tuesday has been one of the best early success stories of an otherwise rough ‘26 campaign for Kansas City. New learning experiences have come with the new role, and Lynch has leaned on his lefty counterpart in the ‘pen. Even with Strahm currently on the injured list (but on track to return as early as next week), Lynch hasn’t been shy about asking him questions and taking his advice.
“I’ll start walking toward the bands or something, and he’s like, ‘Daniel…’ and tells me to sit back down,” Lynch said. “He probably has an idea of what [manager Matt Quatraro’s] thinking just because he’s been around. By no means do I think that I’m immune to pitching at any time – I still think that’s a strength and something I can do. But I just am trying to be more efficient with it.”
The evolution of a reliever, especially at the big league level, comes in phases. The first step is learning how to deviate from a starter’s routine, something a pitcher like Lynch had been doing his entire career until moving to the bullpen. The switch is as physical as it is mental as they learn how to be available every day and find the balance of warming up fully but efficiently to not waste any pitches. Even learning how to handle the days in which they warm up but don’t enter a game is a hurdle.
And then there’s the phase of learning how to pitch in a specific role, like Lynch now finds himself in after a few years of being ready whenever. There are different demands for consistent high-leverage relievers.
“As your role gets more demanding, the demand of the game becomes a lot more, and you have to put as much focus as you can into the game, and kind of strip everything else away,” Lynch said. “You don’t have the luxury of being able to lift twice a week or go do all this stuff.
“The demands of the game are too strong. At the beginning of the season, my routine was a little too long. I was wearing myself down. … I still think if you prepare your body to throw by throwing a lot, you’re going to be prepared to do a lot, but I also think there can be a diminishing return there.”
Hearing that should make Strahm happy, because that’s what he tries to instill in his younger teammates when they ask him about his routine: How ready can you be with the fewest amount of throws?
“Our careers are short. There’s a lot of us that they can replace us with,” Strahm said. “The better you’re able to stay at peak performance – not too tired, not too overused – that’s how to elongate your career. That’s something I’m trying to get him to realize. There is a spot for you to throw. But now he’s pitched himself into a role, and now he can learn to be better prepared for that role.”
There are several reasons why Lynch is seeing success this year. His velocity has ticked up, his whiff and chase rates have increased, and it’s all leading to more strikeouts (29.7% this year compared to 15.6% last year). He attributes it to a better and more consistent delivery, as well as a mindset shift. Pitching exclusively out of the stretch has helped, too.
That was a suggestion from Strahm back in Spring Training, and the data backed it up once Lynch and the Royals' pitching coaches looked into it. Lynch was much better last year with men on base (.174 average against) than with the bases empty (.338). Strahm went through that realization himself in 2018 and hasn’t looked back since.
“I always thought it was because I was more focused with runners on base,” Lynch said. “But it was also probably how I was delivering the ball.”
With every tweak, piece of advice he picks up from his teammates and successful outing, Lynch’s confidence has continued to grow.
“A lot of times we say we want things, and when those things come it’s like, ‘No, you’re not ready,’” Lynch said. “I feel like those situations have come up, and I’ve been ready to roll. I’m just focusing on my execution and recommitting every single day to getting better. Trying to get to strike one and keep putting pressure on guys in the zone.”