KC Royals' offseason signing has turned into elite escape artist after latest save

When the Kansas City Royals signed Carlos Estévez this winter, there was still a bit of debate on who would assume the closers role, after Lucas Erceg did such an admirable job covering the ninth after they acquired him at last year's trade deadline.

The Royals ultimately went with Estévez and he's proven them right so far. However, he hasn't looked like a traditional dominant ninth inning specialist in doing so, as he's made things tougher on himself, whether it's been through hits, walks or even earned runs surrendered. That being said, more often than not he's masterfully found ways to come out on top.

And Wednesday's outing was no different, as Estévez tight-roped out of danger once again to pick up his 11th save of the season.

Carlos Estévez has turned into elite escape artist after latest save

It's no secret that Estévez is not the usual dominant closing arm that blows hitters away. In 2024, before arriving in Kansas City, he ranked below the 20th percentile in both hard-hit and barrel rate. He was also just mediocre when it came to K-rates and whiff rates, as he didn't rank above the 54th percentile in either of them. Still he managed to throw to a 2.45 ERA and 0.91 WHIP while converting 26 saves in the process.

Now that he's with the Royals, we're seeing much of the same. He's ranks in just the 60th percentile in hard-hit rate and the 63rd percentile in barrel rate, while only ranking in the 35th percentile in strikeout rate, the 2nd percentile in whiff rate and the 11th percentile in walk rate.

This has been representative in a majority of his outings. Of Estévez's 13 save opportunities in 2025, only five have not resulted in a walk or a hit, yet only four have resulted in runs scored, only three of those games saw him tabbed with an earned run, and only two have seen him fail to convert the save.

Wednesday night was the prime example of how Estévez has continually found ways to work out of jams. He surrendered three straight hits to start the ninth - a leadoff double, an RBI-single and then another single to put two runners on. But the closer dug in his heels and retired the next three hitters, stranding the winning run on first, to end this one.

Through all of the chaotic outings, he now has 11 saves, good enough for the second-best mark in the American League and fourth best in all of MLB.

A save is a save, it doesn't matter how pretty it is. Now, perhaps the Royals would wish for Estévez's outings to look a little cleaner, but at the end of the day, as long as they're seeing that Dragon Ball Z celebration at the end of the night, it's probably safe they're be happy with their offseason investment in him so far.