Royals are getting the most complete version of Carlos Estévez at the perfect time

The Kansas City Royals are currently in the fight of lifetime in an attempt to defy their current long odds and reach their second consecutive postseason.

To do so, the entire roster has to be on their A-game in the season's final weeks. While some haven't been up to the task of late, the Royals have benefitted from several of their top names elevating their performance to another level.

One of these players is closer Carlos Estévez who, on top of being the current MLB co-leader in saves and already put together an All-Star season in the first half - has now seemingly taken things to a whole new elite level of late.

Carlos Estévez looks the strongest he's ever been since joining the Royals

As mentioned earlier, Estévez crafted quite the first-half warranting of that second career All-Star nod he received. In 42.0 innings before the All-Star break, he was pitching to the tune of a 2.36 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and .201 BAA against.

In the second-half of the 2025 campaign though, the 32-year-old veteran has made some notable improvements across the board.

Now, it should be noted, his ERA second-half ERA may be higher than his first-half clip, but that's in large part due to a small handful of post All-Star poor outings - he surrendered two earned runs in his first appearance back on July 18 and then again on August 10, which were the only the third and fourth times he's done that all season.

However, despite the rise in ERA, he's trended in the positive direction virtually across the board everywhere else.

Estévez was known for having to put forth his best escape artist act after seeming to find his way into regular jams during his save opportunities early on. In the second-half though, the stats prove that hasn't been the case with him. His 0.98 WHIP is better than his first-half 1.10 clip and his .214 BAA is miles better than his first-half .237 mark. He's striking out hitters more - he's posted a 23.4% second-half rate to his opening half 20.1% mark - and he's walking them less - 7.8% to 8.6%.

And to argue against that higher ERA rate, in his latest stretch of six games, he's not only surrendered an earn run, he hasn't allowed a base hit or walk in that time either. As a matter of fact, since his aforementioned two-run outing on Aug. 10, he's managed to only allow just one earned run, two hits and two walks.

Estévez was already a force at the back-end of the bullpen to begin with, but amid second-half where they've already lost one of their key high-leverage arms to the IL again in Hunter Harvey, his stabilizing presence has been felt that much more.