Lucas Stijepan Erceg resides in Phoenix, Ariz., with his wife, Emma...during the 2025-26 offseason, they had their first child...Graduated from Westmont High School (Calif.), where he was the 2013 Central Coast Section Player of the Year as a senior...he batted .437 with 10 extra-base hits and 22 RBI as a senior while going 9-3 with a 0.59 ERA (5 ER in 83.2 IP) and 106 strikeouts...Spent two seasons at the University of California, Berkeley from 2014-15 and was named to the All-Pac 12 First-Team his sophomore season...transferred to Menlo College (Calif.) for his junior year (2016), where he set the school’s single-season home run record (20) while posting a 0.78 ERA (2 ER in 23.0 IP).
2025
In his first full season with the Royals, Erceg tied his career high with 61 appearances and his 61.1 innings fell 0.1 inning shy of his 2024 total (61.2)...Won a career-high eight games, tied for the third-most wins among American League relief pitchers, behind Edwin Uceta (10) and Jeff Hoffman (9)...Earned his first win as a Royal -- and first since May 21, 2024 vs. Colorado with the A’s -- with 1.2 scoreless innings of work on May 18 vs. St. Louis...After entering the season with a 39.0-inning homerless streak that dated back to June 14, 2024 with the Athletics, he extended that streak to 59.2 innings through May 18, before he surrendered a two-run HR to Heliot Ramos in San Francisco on May 21...Was placed on the Injured List on May 30 with a low back strain and missed 10 games...he was placed on the IL with a right shoulder impingement on Sept. 19, ending his season...Prior to his back injury, he had a 1.96 ERA (5 ER in 23.0 IP) while holding opponents to a .179 average (14-for-78)…after he returned, he had a 3.05 ERA (13 ER in 38.1 IP) and opponents hit .268 (40-for-149)...Recorded a 1.64 ERA (6 ER in 33.0 IP) in 32 games at Kauffman Stadium, which was more than two runs lower than his road ERA (3.81)...his home ERA ranked 10th in the Majors (fifth in the AL) among pitchers who made at least 30 appearances at their home ballparks...Held left-handed hitters to a .200/.273/.267 (24-for-120, .539 OPS) slashline, but right-handed hitters slashed .280/.342/.421 (30-for-107, .762 OPS)...Thrived in his role as the setup man to closer Carlos Estévez, as he pitched in the eighth inning 44 times and posted a 1.73 ERA (eight ER in 41.2 IP)...however, he made 25 appearances in the seventh or ninth innings, and in them he had a combined 4.58 ERA (10 ER in 19.2 IP).
2024
Erceg completed his second Major League season—and first with Kansas City—after being acquired via trade from Oakland on July 30, 2024 for Minor League pitchers Mason Barnett and Will Klein, and outfielder Jared Dickey...Appeared in 38 games for Oakland, going 2-3 with three saves and a 3.68 ERA (15 ER in 36.2 IP), 41 strikeouts (26.3 K%, 10.1 K/9) and 13 walks (8.3 BB%, 3.2 BB/9)...After being acquired by the Royals, he recorded 11 saves, a 2.88 ERA (8 ER in 25.0 IP), with 19 scoreless appearances in 23 games (82.6%)...Finished the year riding a career-long 39.0-inning homerless streak that dated back to June 14 and ranked as the seventh-longest active streak in the Majors...He held opponents to a .156 batting average (10-for-64) with runners in scoring position, including 6-for-34 (.176) after joining the Royals...Set a new career-high scoreless innings streak at 17.2 innings from July 22-Aug. 26 (Game 1), traversing both his time with the Athletics and Royals...Saved all three games in the Nationals series from Sept. 24-26, becoming the first Royal to save all three games of a series since Kelvin Herrera vs. Baltimore from May 12-14, 2017, and the first Royal to do it in a road series since Joakim Soria from July 5-7, 2010 at Seattle...Appeared in five of Kansas City’s six games during the 2024 postseason and went 3-for-3 in saves...Protected one-run leads to save both games of the Wild Card Series in Baltimore...Erceg became the third pitcher to record two saves and allow no runs and no hits in his first two postseason games…the others to do it were Montreal’s Jeff Reardon in 1981 and Bob Kuzava with the Yankees in 1951 and 1952.
2023
Was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers organization on May 17 for cash considerations and went 4-4 with a 4.75 ERA and .726 opponents OPS in a team-leading 50 games with the A’s in his Major League debut...His 50 games pitched were the fewest by an A’s team-leader in a full season since Steve Ontiveros had 46 in 1986...Surrendered just one home run in 55.0 innings and his average of 0.16 home runs per nine innings was the lowest in the Majors among relievers…it was fifth lowest in Oakland history and was the lowest since 1972 when Bob Locker allowed one home run in 78.0 innings of relief (0.12) and Darold Knowles had one in 65.2 innings (0.14)...Struck out 68 batters, an average of 11.13 per nine innings...Allowed a .245 opponents batting average, but issued 36 walks (5.89 per nine innings) for a .371 on-base percentage…tied for seventh among Major League relievers in most walks...Posted a 2.25 ERA and .583 OPS over his first 16 games through June 27, an 11.94 ERA and 1.041 OPS over his next 19 games, and a 0.51 ERA and .468 OPS over his final 15 contests beginning Aug. 24...His opponents batting average broke down to .230 (17-for-74) with a .732 OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .254 (34-for-134) with a .723 OPS against right-handers…issued 16 of his 36 walks to lefties...Allowed 3-of-25 (12.0%) inherited runners to score, which was the fifth lowest percentage in the Majors among relievers with 25 or more inherited runners…it was sixth lowest by an A’s reliever since at least 1974...First batters faced were 8-for-41 (.195) with seven walks and two hit by pitches (.340 on-base percentage)...Logged a 3.81 ERA and .638 opponents OPS in 22 home games, a 5.59 ERA and .802 OPS in 28 road games…stranded all 15 of his inherited runners on the road...Compiled a 3.44 ERA and stranded all 15 of his inherited runners at night…had a 7.36 ERA in 17 day games...Had an 8.52 ERA in 22 games on zero or one day of rest, a 0.43 ERA in 17 appearances on two days rest and a 5.79 ERA with three days rest or more...Compiled a 1.35 ERA and stranded all six of his inherited runners in 13 appearances against American League West competition…posted a 6.38 ERA in 17 interleague games but did not allow any of his nine inherited runners to score.
2022
Last season - his first as a full-time pitcher - went 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA and two saves in 49 games (four starts) between Double-A Biloxi (16g, 2gs) and Triple-A Nashville (33g, 2gs).....had 69 strikeouts in 61.1 innings.
2021
Made the first pitching appearances of his professional career in 2021 at Double-A Biloxi, appearing in 22 games (13gs).
2020
Played for the Sugar Land Lightning Sloths of the Independent Constellation Energy League in 2020 (28g. .180, 0hr, 7rbi).
2019
The former third baseman entered 2019 as the eighth-best prospect in the organization according to Baseball America.
2017
Was named to the Carolina League’s postseason All-Star team in 2017 after leading the league in RBI (81) and ranking among the leaders in total bases (2nd, 207), extra-base hits (T2nd, 49) and doubles (4th, 33)...Led all Brewers minor leaguers in RBI (83) in 2017...Was Carolina League Player of the Week twice in 2017: 7/24-7/30 (7g, .478, 3hr, 12rbi) and 8/21-8/27 (6g, .500, 1hr, 7rbi)...Following the 2017 season played for the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League (14g, .250, 1hr, 5rbi).
