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Kansas City Royals: All-Decade Team for 2010s

By Travis Neely

ANAHEIM, CA - JUNE 15: Mike Moustakas #8, Alex Gordon #4, Eric Hosmer #35, and Alcides Escobar #2 of the Kansas City Royals celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 7-2 in a game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on June 15, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - JUNE 15: Mike Moustakas #8, Alex Gordon #4, Eric Hosmer #35, and Alcides Escobar #2 of the Kansas City Royals celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 7-2 in a game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on June 15, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Wade Davis #17 of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
Wade Davis #17 of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

ALL-DECADE TEAM FOR 2010S

RELIEF PITCHING

  • GREG HOLLAND
  • WADE DAVIS
  • KELVIN HERRERA
  • LUKE HOCHEVAR
  • JOAKIM SORIA
  • MIKE MINOR
  • IAN KENNEDY

It is would be hard to not place the trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland on top of the list of “the best bullpen” of the decade in all of MLB. In 2014, H-D-H posted ERAs of 1.41 (Herrera), 1.00 (Davis) and 1.44 (Holland) over a combined 204.1 innings during the regular season. Of the three, only Greg Holland allowed any home runs (3) during that entire season.

They combined for 30 innings only giving up only six runs during the 2014 postseason run. Everyone knew that if the Royals had the lead after the sixth inning, then the game was basically a wrap. H-D-H would come out back-to-back-to-back and shut down their opponents.

Holland suffered a late season right elbow injury and missed the last two weeks of the regular and the entire postseason in 2015. Davis emerged as the team’s closer and posted an ERA of 0.94 during the regular season. He recorded the final out (strikeout) of Mets SS Wilmer Flores in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series.

It said a lot about that 2015 bullpen that when Holland missed time, Davis could come right in and be just as good of a closer while Herrera ended up being just as a good of a setup man, and later (in 2017 and 2018), a good closer as well.

I also included Luke Hochevar, Joakim Soria, Mike Minor, and Ian Kennedy in this all-decade bullpen.

  • Hochevar, the franchise’s first overall pick in 2006 who flamed out as a starter, got the win in Game 5 of the World Series.
  • Soria wasn’t as good when he returned to the team in 2016, but he was their lone All-Star in 2010, notching 43 saves that year.
  • Minor had a 2.55 ERA out of the bullpen in 2017 and rejuvenated his career with the Royals after it looked like he might be done as a major league pitcher.
  • Kennedy wasn’t worth bringing in as a starter, but he was really good as a reliever (most notably – as a closer) in 2019. He had a 3.41 ERA to go along with 30 saves and might have found a new calling near the end of his career.

This bullpen would strike fear into their opponents, just like the 2014 and 2015 bullpens did.

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