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KC Royals: Luke Hochevar Rejoins Team

By Leigh Oleszczak

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The KC Royals‘ bullpen has been nothing short of brilliant up to this point of the season, and it’s about to get scarier as Luke Hochevar has been brought up from the minors. Hochevar was once a former starter for the Royals, but failed to get the job done and was sent to the bullpen instead.

Hochevar certainly found his niche in the bullpen, much like Wade Davis has, and was the set-up man in the 2013 season. He missed all of last season due to having to undergo Tommy John surgery, which makes one wonder how much scarier this bullpen would have been during the postseason had Hochevar been apart of the roster.

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Instead though, Hochevar joins a Kansas City Royals bullpen that, excluding Wednesday night’s loss to the Indians (I blame that more on Danny Duffy than I do the bullpen since they had to get to work in the second inning), had pitched 83.2 innings with only a 1.08 ERA. That’s pretty dang good.

Yohan Pino was sent back down to the minors with Greg Holland returning, and now Brandon Finnegan will be sent down to make room for Hochevar. Pino and Finnegan were the two “weakest” links (I use that word loosely) in the bullpen, but they’d likely be some of the best relievers on other teams in the MLB (Source of link: John Viril of Kings of Kauffman).

I would imagine Hochevar’s role will be a little bit limited to start since he did struggle at times during his rehab assignment, but there are still times the Royals will be able to use him. He could be used in a blowout game on either side of the ball and shouldn’t be used in super close games. At least not yet anyway. He won’t immediately become the third H of the incredibly scary H-D-H that fans grew to love last season.

According to David Hill at Kings of Kauffman, Hochevar saw his struggles in Omaha. He posted a 7.83 ERA and gave up 16 hits in 10.1 innings. He’s also given up eight walks. These are all things Hochevar will have to work on, and it might take some time before the Kansas City Royals put him out on the mound.

It’s still nice to finally have Luke Hochevar activated and on the roster. KC Royals fans have been waiting patiently since he had his surgery, and now the moment is finally here. Let’s hope Luke Hochevar can pick right back up from where he left off.

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