3 KC Royals relievers on thin ice as Hunter Harvey prepares for his return

After a bit of a shaky start to the season, the Kansas City Royals bullpen has actually been one of its strengths for the last few weeks. When the offense does manage to hand the pen a late lead, the relief pitchers have managed to mostly hold it down.

Having said that, the relief corps is about to get even better as Hunter Harvey has officially started working his way back from injury and could be in Kansas City sooner, rather than later. As is always the case, once Harvey comes back, some players will be hoping desperately that they don’t suddenly get the call to go talk to the manager. So who are the Royals that should be most worried about that call coming?

3 KC Royals relievers on thin ice as Hunter Harvey prepares for his return

Jonathan Bowlan

If Harvey comes up and Bowlan goes down, it won’t really be anything that the latter did that made him deserve to be sent back down to Omaha. It will be the fact that he hasn’t done anything at all.

He’s simply the last guy to come up from the Triple-A team and that could certainly make him the first man to get sent back. There’s also the fact that his small cups of coffee were not all that impressive. In 2024, he made one start, lasting just 2.2 innings, allowing 6 hits (3 home runs) and 4 earned runs.

Bowlan has just one appearance in 2025 since just getting called up. Now, it was a good one, as he sat down the side in order in both the eighth and ninth innings of Sunday afternoon's loss to the Astros. But, at the end of the day though, it's just a couple innings of low-leverage work. If Harvey can make his way back quickly, logistically Bowlan seems the most likely option for demotion.

Chris Stratton

Chris Stratton is essentially the opposite of Bowlan. He’s gotten a few too many chances at this point and he’s certainly not performed all that well. In eight outings that have spanned 11 total innings, he’s allowed 11 runs, and walked six, while striking out seven. 

Of those eight outings, five have been multi-earned run outings, and of those 11 runs, he’s allowed two homers. In a bullpen that has been pretty darn good over the last couple of weeks, Stratton is not really fitting in. Both his run-prevention and long ball issues especially could be reasons Kansas City is ready to be rid of.

Steven Cruz

This is the dark horse of the trio potentially on the hot-seat when Harvey comes back. On it’s face, Cruz looks like he’s done everything he could to stick in Kansas City and certainly, it seems like either Bowlan or Stratton will go first, but while Cruz is boasting a 0.00 ERA, he hasn’t been perfect.

In 6 2/3 innings so far this season, he hasn’t allowed a hit, but he has had some control issues as he’s walked three and holds a 4.05 BB/9. He's also not been the most commanding when it comes to inducing the swing-and-miss to minimize some of the control issues as he only holds a 21.7% K-rate and a 22.9% whiff rate. If the KC Royals think something is up with his delivery, there is a chance he could also be the guy to draw the short straw.