In recent years, the new management of the royals has proven that they have one of the best pitching development staff in baseball. Brian Sweeney, Paul Gibson and other Pitching coaches have been very successful with adding new pitches to the arsenal of a player, while also improving their existing pitches. But now there is a nice question to ask …
Who has the best individual pitch offer on the royals?
I will start distributing things by pitch and show which royals world has the best of every offer. I will then choose which one I think it is the best and which makes it stand out above the rest. And to complete things, I leave a top 10 list from the best fields in the team.
Fastball with four seam – Steven Cruz
The Fastball with four seams is the most cast range in baseball and is often the basic line for a pitcher to establish the rest of the range in their arsenal. The royals have different pitchers with great fastballs, but Steven Cruz stands out as the best in the team and perhaps as one of the best in baseball.
The 6’7 ‘Cruz is a dominant presence on the hill and can give Hitters the feeling that he is about them when he starts his excitement. On average just over 98 km / h on the field with a good wear through the zone from his arm slot is just a recipe for success. He also gets a good extension on the field, so it plays even faster than it is. Cruz throws his fastball almost 50% of the time, but even if they know it is coming, they cannot catch up if he increases it more than 100 km / h.
So far, in 2025, Cruz has a touch of 27.1% that is above average. Even when battle people make contact, they don’t find good luck. Hitters have a .191 XBA and .384 XSLG when they see the Fastball, an elite mark for someone with that use. Fastballs are always hit harder than other pitches (hence the higher XSLG), but Cruz’s great results while consistently leaned at that pitch, make it the best Fastball in Kansas City.
Two -Seam Fastball – Lucas Erceg
One of the best ways to keep batters of a sturdy four-seater fastball is the use of a handle with two seas that can help forcing poor contact. Lucas Erceg is the master of this and has shown a great feeling for the field in his short time with the royals.
ERCEG also has one of the best fastballs with four sea in the organization, but his zinc shed, which has the same speed and has considerably more horizontal movement, is even better. In 2025 the zinc shed from Erceg has an .178 BA EN .200 SLG against it, one of the best figures in baseball.
Erceg throws his zinc 22.3% of the time, which means that it is not only something that he rarely throws, and Hitters are not looking for it. Sitting at 97.5 mph with 15 centimeters arm-side run, the pure stuff on his semi-sentner is also elite. The stuff, combined with high use and results to support it all, is exactly what makes Lucas Erceg’s semi-sentorer the best on the royals.
Changeup – Michael Stop
If you think of Michael Wacha, the first to come up in you is incredible change. Since he came to the major competitions, Wacha is known for this pitch and has polished it in one of the best individual offers in all baseball. Wacha became so comfortable with the field that it became its most used offer in 2023 and 2024.
Michael Wacha can do so many different things with his change and has said in the past that he can manipulate it in different ways. Sometimes he postponed his arm to get more armzide run, and other times he just seems to let it go straight and diving on the plate. If you look at the movement profile for his change, you can therefore see so much variation in the location and movement.
With the variety on the field, it is difficult to say the exact movement profile of his change, but whatever he does, it works. Sometimes it falls like a splitter, sometimes it runs like a handle of circular change, and other times it dives like a forkball. Anyway, batters can’t touch it, with batters who only post a .150 BA and an incredible .189 Slugging percentage of it. Hitters wrap 31% of the time, and even if they make contact, it doesn’t go far, exactly what you want from an elite change.
Slider/Sweeper – Evan Sisk
There is only a small sample size from Evan Sisk -Pitching in the large competitions, but when he did, the slider was disgusting. During his entire career, Evan Sisk is known for his Sidearm 12-degree approach and the ability to wipe the ball over the zone. When he came to the Majors, he showed that he could do exactly better than almost everyone.
In the 5.1 Innings Evan Sisk threw in the Majors, he threw 39 total sliding controllers, of which 29 were left. Sisk is always known as the go-to-guy when you need to get a leffty, and his amazing slider is exactly why. Against the left, this slider had no less than 66% touch that nobody could catch up. It doesn’t matter who he was confronted, Evan Sisk was successful with his slider. In his (be the short) time in the Majors this year, no batter could get a hit from the slider.
The movement on the field is poor, with the field that registers 13.5 centimeters break, a full 3.4 centimeter more than the iconic slider of Chris Sale. He throws the field 33% of the time, so Hitters know to expect, but they can’t do anything with it. The statistics on Evan Sisk’s slider are unreal, and if he can get a consistent sense of his fastball, this may not be only the best slider in Kansas City, it can be one of the best baseball.
Curveball – Seth Lugo
Since the first day that Seth Lugo entered the competition, he was known for his top curveball. Under qualified pitchers, the 3079 -Tall curveball from Seth Lugo is the seventh best spinning speed and the 16th in horizontal break is. It also offers a slower version of the pitch that can become as low as 67 km / h, as well as a slurve variation that has more horizontal movement.
The ability to manipulate the field just makes it much better, similar to what we see with the change of Michael Wacha. Lugo trusts the curve, and this year it throws more than any other pitch in his arsenal. He has a usage speed of 23% on the curve, which sounds low until you remember that Lugo has a 10+ pitch mix. He also uses the slurve 9% of the time, which would also influence that number.
The use and the movement are all for the curveball, and when he locates where he wants, he is unmanageable. But this year Lugo had a number of expired assignment and the curve went around. The field was dominant last year and was far away the best pitch in Kansas City, but now with the command wrestings there is more a question.
The best of the best – Michael Wacha Changeup
Michael Wacha wins the crown for the best throw in Kansas City, while his change continues to dominate MLB -Hitters. It was a tight race between his change, the Curveball from Lugos and the Sisk’s slider, but the pure consistency, variation and results brought him over the top.
Michael Wacha can use his change as his primary pitch, as a starter, and can still hold on to a .150 BA. Lugo’s struggle with the curve last month put him back, and Evan Sisk’s lack of variation and the order stopped him from taking the lead. Wacha’s change has it all, and I think it is safe to say that there is no pitch in the Royals organization better than the incredible change (s) of Michael Wacha.
Top ten throws for royals -soapers
- Michael Stop change
- Seth Lugo Curveball
- Evan Sisk Slider
- Steven Cruz Fastball
- Angel Zerpa Slider (no hits in July and only two in June)
- Michael Lorenzen Change
- Lucas Erceg Sinker
- Taylor Clarke Slider
- Sam Lange Curveball
- Andrew Hoffmann Kick-CHANPEUP
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