Kansas City Royals: Kelvin Herrera not living up to the hype as closer

The Kansas City Royals put a lot of faith into Kelvin Herrera this season, especially after trading away Wade Davis and not re-signing Greg Holland. So far, Herrera hasn’t been lights out as the Royals’ closer.

Flashback to the 2014 season. That year saw the Kansas City Royals have the most shutdown bullpen in all of the major leagues. Led by the trio of H-D-H (Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland as the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning guys respectively), the Royals bullpen meant that if the team had a lead after the sixth inning, no matter how small, they were going to win the ball game.

That H-D-H trio out of the pen got the Royals to the 2014 World Series and nearly won them the whole shebang that year. As we all know, the Royals fell short, but made it back in 2015.

Even with Holland struggling in 2015 and eventually getting placed on the disabled list, Davis stepped in as the closer and continued to be just as dominant, if not more dominating than Holland.

Just because a pitcher is a good reliever does not necessarily mean he’s suited for a closer role.

Naturally, everyone awaited for when Kelvin Herrera would be handed the reigns as closer for the KC Royals. That happened sooner than many expected, when Wade Davis was traded to the Chicago Cubs this offseason for outfielder Jorge Soler.

Davis’ departure meant that Herrera would officially be the closer for the Kansas City Royals and fans expected the former seventh inning guy to step in and be just as lights out as the two pitchers before him. That has not been the case so far though.

Sure, the Royals haven’t been as good this season, narrowing down Herrera’s chances to save games, but even during his appearances, he just hasn’t had it as much as Holland and Davis did. It’s unfair to compare him to those two guys, but also hard not to draw those comparisons.

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In 18 appearances (and 18 innings pitched), Herrera has an ERA of 4.50 (which is awful for a reliever, especially a closer), eight saves, two blown saves, and has given up five home runs.

Just because a pitcher is a good reliever does not necessarily mean he’s suited for a closer role and that very well could be the case for Kelvin Herrera. Perhaps current eighth inning man Joakim Soria would be better suited for the closing duties in Kansas City, but we know that Ned Yost won’t give up on Herrera so soon.

As Royals fans who are used to having the best bullpen in baseball, this season has been a little tough to handle when the starter exits the game. H-D-H isn’t walking out of those bullpen gates anymore, and the one H that is left is showing that he might not be cut out for being the team’s closer.

All of this is even more painful when you see Holland notching 18 saves for the Colorado Rockies and Davis doing his thing in Chicago with nine saves. The Royals did the right thing at the time by not taking gamble on Holland and getting a guy with several years on his contract for Davis, but it’s hard not to see those stats and sigh any time Herrera struggles.

What do you think, Royals fans? Should Yost consider making a change at closer or should Herrera continue to handle saving games?

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