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Athletics trade Lucas Erceg to Royals
Athletics trade Lucas Erceg to Royals
The Oakland Athletics have traded Lucas Erceg, one of their top relievers, to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for three prospects. ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan was the first to report Tuesday.
MLB Network insider Mark Feinsand was first to report that the deal will be for prospects Mason Barnett (SP), Will Klein (RP) and Jared Dickey (OF).
Erceg isn’t Mason Miller, who was practically untouchable (especially after fracturing his pinkie), but he was still a very productive arm who was going to command interest ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
The Royals previously acquired Washington Nationals closer Hunter Harvey and, by adding Erceg, add to the back-end of their bullpen headed by James McArthur.
In only his second MLB season, Erceg has pitched to a 3.68 ERA and 3.46 FIP, striking out 41 batters (to just 13 walks) in 36.2 innings. He’s got an electric, high-octane fastball that touches triple digits with an excellent slider that hitters are only slugging .067 off this year. He also possesses a sinker and changeup in his arsenal; his sinker is primarily thrown to righties while his changeup, which has 18.4 inches of horizontal break, is diced to lefties.
Due to his limited experience, his performance will be interesting to track, though the Royals’ bullpen has largely been ineffective this year–especially the back-end. They have a mediocre save percentage (64 percent), and in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings, they own the fifth-worst ERA and FIP with MLB’s lowest strikeout rate at 17.8 percent.
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