The Kansas City Royals Have Intriguing Relief Prospect in L.P. Langevin
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2026 has been a rough year for the Kansas City Royals bullpen. They don't do much well, and heading into next season, there should be a good number of changes happening in the bullpen. One relief prospect that could be an option, despite only playing in High-A the past couple of seasons, is L.P. Langevin, who is putting together an insane season with the River Bandits.
Langevin was pick number 105 in the 2024 MLB draft, and he came out of UL-Lafayette with an electric fastball and a plus slider. The reason the Royals drafted Langevin showed in college as he struck out everyone: a 39.1% K-rate and 15.22 K/9. He also showed the ability to pitch multiple innings in college, making him an intriguing talent for the bullpen. Let's talk about how he has done in the minor leagues.
Definition of Power Reliever through and through
When anyone thinks of the typical closer type in modern baseball, they think of someone who throws hard, has elite stuff, but can't locate it in the slightest. That is the prototype of L.P. Langevin. While he doesn't throw triple-digit fastballs, he sits in the mid 90s with the ability to reach the upper 90s, he has a very effective fastball.
According to the MLB prospect rankings, Langevin has a 70-grade fastball that is the "star of the show" and "one of the most intriguing in the minor leagues." His fastball has a ton of spin, leading to it having a ton of run and ride and giving hitters fits at the plate. He pairs it with a solid slider, which can become an above average pitch for him.
Now for the best part of Langevin's profile, the downright absurd Ks and the numbers behind them. Langevin strikes batters out 45.1% of the time; just soak that information in. In 54.1 innings of work in 2026, he has 105 strikeouts. To put that number in perspective, taking all K-rates throughout the Major and Minor leagues, he is second in all of baseball in K-rate, behind Mason Miller.
At High-A, he also leads the league in whiff rate (46.1%), CSW% (37.3%), and Z-contact% (58.8%). To continue the positives, he has also shown the ability to pitch multiple innings as in 11 of his 39 appearances he has gotten two innings of work. To put it simply, he is a power pitcher through and through, but there are some downsides to his game.
Power Pitcher to a Fault
On the other side of the power-pitching coin is the erraticness most of them tend to have. That includes Langevin. While he is racking up the Ks, he is also walking a ton of batters. As shown by his percentiles, Langevin isn't in the zone a ton (44.9%), and walks a lot of batters (16.7%). That is problematic due to the fact that batters aren't swinging a ton at his pitches (40.7%). Another thing of note, he has also allowed a HR/9 of 1.33, which is the first time in his pro career that he has given up home runs.
It is good that he is dominating on the Ks front, but walking that many batters is not going to work at the higher levels if batters are just going to wait for ball four. That is the biggest thing for Langevin to work on, but just about everything else is great.
Conclusion
Langevin has a current ETA to the Majors of 2027-2028, mainly due to his absurd stuff. The two biggest issues with his profile will be his control and concerns about a plus secondary pitch. The Royals will be looking to revamp the bullpen heading into 2027, and while there are concerns with Langevin's profile, it wouldn't be surprising if his name pops up in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee next season.
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Trey is no stranger to writing about the Royals as he has done it for 6 years now for various blogs (Kings of Kauffman, Inside The Royals, and Farm to Fountains). He is a graduate of Baker University with a degree in Mass Media with an emphasis in sports media. He enjoys watching and researching sports as well as gaming.
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