KC Royals: Who Should Be Named Closer in 2016
By Scott Dillon
Kelvin Herrera
Kelvin Herrera used to be the first in what was known as the ‘three headed monster’ out of the Royals’ bullpen, but who’s to say he couldn’t become the last ‘H’ in ‘HDH’?
Kelvin Herrera owns a career ERA of 2.60 and a WHIP of 1.157. He does tend to walk more batters than you’d like to see but his 8.7 Ks/9 makes up for it.
While his fastball will blow you away, his best pitch may be his change-up. When he pull’s the string on it and spins around before the ball reaches the plate it’s a thing of beauty.
His 2.71 ERA last season was more than a full run better than Holland’s and he pitched in 24 more games than Holland did. To be fair to Greg Holland, it’s worth mentioning that he pitched the bulk of the year, if not all of it, with UCL damage. That’s a pretty gutsy performance considering his arm was falling off.
Kelvin Herrera wows everyone with a fastball that exceeds 100 miles per hour and a two seam fastball in the upper nineties. Harold Reynolds described that pitch as ‘defying physics’ with the movement he gets on a ball moving that fast.
While his fastball will blow you away, his best pitch may be his change-up. When he pull’s the string on it and spins around before the ball reaches the plate it’s a thing of beauty.
Herrera has the experience of pitching in high leverage situations already and should easily be able to handle the duties of earning the save. While he’s not the Royals’ best reliever, he’s certainly good enough to earn upwards of 40 saves in a season.
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