The Kansas City Royals made a concerted effort to bolster their bullpen with the addition of top closer Carlos Estévez this offseason.
The decision has paid off in a major way. On Friday, Estévez tied his career-high with 31 saves in a season as the Royals earned a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.
Estévez posted a scoreless ninth inning in the victory for the save. He leads the American League in saves as he continues his All-Star campaign. His latest save on Friday bolted the Royals back to .500 at 61-61.
“It’s cool, man,” Estévez said. “And knowing, we have a good road ahead, so I’m really excited to see what’s coming up ahead and just keep doing it.”
Estévez struck out the side in the ninth inning. He admitted to being slightly upset at himself coming into Friday’s game after a string of tough relief appearances — where he allowed three earned runs and was charged with two losses.
“I was pretty mad today because I know how things have been and whatever,” Estévez said. “I don’t really think about it like, ‘oh, I failed the other day.’ It’s more like, I know I can be better than that and I can execute better. I know I can get these guys out any given day. So let me just go back to what I do.”
Estévez used the off day Thursday to work on his delivery and realign his mechanics towards the plate. This included doing a lot of dry work in front of his basement mirror to see exactly how his delivery appeared.
The goal was to repeat his delivery as much as possible.
“I know if I go back to that and go back to repeating the same (delivery), it’s going to get everything that is spread out there and get it back to the same line to execute my pitches,” Estévez said.
Estévez notched 31 saves in 2023 with the Los Angeles Angels.
Now Estévez has an outside chance of making Royals history as he climbs the all-time single-season saves list. Estévez ranks 15th overall in Royals franchise history and is chasing Greg Holland, who had a club record 47 saves in 2013.
“There is a reason we were excited to get him,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Estévez. “He has done it before. I didn’t know that was his career high, but that’s awesome. I’m glad to hear that. But at the same time, the numbers on the field are one thing, but what he has meant to that bullpen as a pro and what he has meant to the clubhouse is second to none.”