Lucas Erceg’s Continued Struggles Create Difficult Question for Royals

The Kansas City Royals acquired right-handed pitcher Lucas Erceg ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. Erceg fit the Royals’ needs as they were pushing for the postseason and needed a dependable late-inning reliever.

His high velocity and strikeout ability fit the Royals’ needs perfectly. And through his 2024 stint with Kansas City, it felt like they struck gold with Erceg. Through his first 25 innings, he allowed just eight runs while striking out 31 hitters.

He followed that up in 2025 with a respectable season. He was moved into a setup role rather than serving as the main closer after Kansas City signed Carlos Estévez. While he ended the season with a solid 2.64 ERA in 61 1/3 innings, his strikeout rate dropped from 28.5% in 2024 to 19.3% in 2025, according to Statcast.

Going into the 2026 season, this was something worth noting. But unfortunately for Erceg, this season has quickly become one he would like to forget.

Can the Royals trust Lucas Erceg in a high-leverage role next season?

Kansas City Royals pitcher Lucas Erceg (60) takes a breath before throwing a pitch in the ninth inning of the MLB Interleague game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Kansas City Royals at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. The Reds won 4-3 on a walkoff hit by Blake Dunn, scoring Spencer Steer from second base in the 10th inning. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Erceg has followed the same trend as the entire Kansas City bullpen: not great. This year, the 31-year-old has logged 43 1/3 innings while posting a 6.02 ERA. He is currently tied for the third-most blown saves in MLB with six.

It has seemed that Erceg has lost that ice-cold ability to shut down a game. While his velocity is still there, with an average fastball velocity of 97 mph, his strikeout ability has dropped even more. He currently owns a 15.1% strikeout rate, which lands him in the sixth percentile.

Along with his high-leverage confidence seemingly being lost, his control has been missing as well. Erceg has nearly as many walks as strikeouts, with 27 walks compared to 31 strikeouts, resulting in a 13.2% walk rate.

These struggles continued into Game 2 of the Los Angeles Dodgers series on Wednesday. Erceg was brought in to pitch the 10th inning, issued two walks and allowed a walk-off hit to Max Muncy. While extra innings put pitchers in a tough spot with the automatic runner on second, the two walks capped off by the walk-off hit just add to his overall rough season.

Releasing him would not make much sense, as he is under club control through 2029 and will be arbitration-eligible in 2027. Plus, the Royals know what kind of arm he can be, if that’s worth anything, and the Kansas City bullpen does not have much velocity, so keeping that arm as an option never hurts.

But Erceg’s struggles make the bullpen an even bigger need than it already is this offseason. If the Royals end up not trusting Erceg in high-leverage moments next season, they will need to find an arm who can close out games this offseason because the options are slim in Kansas City.

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