The year 2023 was not the year of the Kansas City Royals bullpen. It was a long, drawn-out year for the bullpen, which led to a 5.23 ERA. There was only one team worse than the Royals bullpen in terms of ERA, and it was the Colorado Rockies who posted a 5.41 ERA.
Royals General Manager J.J. Picollo made it clear this offseason that one of their goals would be to strengthen the bullpen. They did that early when they acquired Nick Anderson from the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations.
The four-year big leaguer has a proven track record of success, posting a 2.93 ERA over 122.2 innings while striking out 173. He was good for the Atlanta Braves last year as he posted a 3.06 ERA in 35.1 innings before landing on the injured reserve list in July due to a right shoulder strain.
The fact the Royals were able to obtain him from the Braves right before the non-tender deadline for cash is a win, regardless of how the trade works out. The Royals gave up nothing in return for a guy who has dominated out of the bullpen when healthy. Most of his success came with the Tampa Bay Rays, so you have to imagine the connection to Matt Quatraro, who played a role in the Royals going after him.
I mentioned in the non-roster invitee article that the Royals were targeting a lot of relievers with good curveballs. Well, add Nick Anderson to that list. You can find some incredible Pitching Ninja videos of Anderson making guys look silly across the league. The crazy part is his curveball doesn’t have an elite spin rate, but yet it induces a ton of Whiff. In 2023, Anderson went to the curveball 50% of the time and had a Whiff% of 40.4% on the pitch. It plays well off his fastball, which averaged 94.2 mph last year.
Anderson has the stuff to be a lockdown-type reliever. Pretty much the role he played for the Tampa Bay Rays last year. The Royals were missing these guys in the bullpen last year, even though there were brief glimpses of hope from guys like James McArthur and John McMillon. Hopefully, a healthy Nick Anderson can solidify one of the late innings for them.
He is just one of many arms the Royals brought in to help shore up a bullpen that ranked at the bottom of the major leagues. The hope is that some of these veteran arms with experience can take the pressure off these younger, up-and-coming guys like McArthur, McMillon, Klein, Cruz, Hernandez, and many more.
The moves the Royals made via trade to get a guy like Nick Anderson are the ones you want to see your team make. Sure, there is injury risk, but when you are getting him for practically nothing, it is a risk worth taking. It’s not always easy to find these types of arms in the bullpen, and Anderson could be part of why we see the Royals bullpen turn it around in 2024.
