Matt Strahm: A Microcosm of the 2026 Royals Bullpen

The Kansas City Royals selected Matt Strahm in the 21st round of the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of Neosho County Community College.

Understandably, the 643rd pick in the draft came without much hype or fanfare. After all, Strahm was drafted in a round that no longer even exists in the modern MLB Draft and was taken from a junior college that most people outside of Neosho County have not heard of.

However, it did not take long for the left-hander to make Kansas City’s decision-makers look wise for taking a flyer on him.

The Royals quickly determined that the best way to maximize their selection of Strahm was to transition him from being a college starter into being a late-inning, left-handed reliever in professional baseball. The move proved to be the correct one, as Strahm quickly established himself as an effective bullpen arm in the lower levels of their minor-league system.

After spending four years grinding his way through the minors and climbing to the higher levels of the organization, Strahm finally turned enough heads to earn his first major-league call-up during the 2016 season.

The left-hander’s first MLB season was quite successful in 2016, as he threw 22 innings for the Royals to a 1.23 ERA. He impressed with his ability to be a Swiss Army knife for the big-league club, as he could get lefties and righties out and seemed to be able to perform in high-leverage and low-leverage situations when called upon.

As Strahm’s value increased heading into 2017, the Royals saw an opportunity to capitalize on him as a trade asset. Kansas City ultimately decided to move the youngster, making him one of the headline pieces sent to San Diego in a midseason deal. The move brought back a big name in former All-Star Trevor Cahill, who the Royals front office hoped would help spell the downturn the big-league club had taken since their 2015 World Series title.

Following the trade, Strahm and the Royals went down entirely different paths. Over the next nine seasons, Strahm established himself as a dependable late-inning presence for winning organizations, frequently serving as a fireman capable of entering games in critical situations and delivering in high-pressure moments. Meanwhile, Kansas City tumbled into years of irrelevance and lackluster play, becoming a consistent basement dweller in the American League Central.

In recent years, Strahm has enjoyed the most successful stretch of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies. From 2023-2025, he logged more than 200 innings out of the bullpen while posting a sub-3.00 ERA and even earned the rare honor of an All-Star selection as a setup man.

In short, during nearly a decade away from Kansas City, Matt Strahm developed into one of the most reliable left-handed relievers in baseball.

The Return

For the better part of Strahm’s time away from Kauffman Stadium, the Royals struggled to put together respectable seasons, year after year. That finally changed in 2024, when Kansas City completed a remarkable turnaround, improving from 56 wins to 86 and clinching a Wild Card berth.

They followed that breakout season with a somewhat disappointing, but still encouraging, 2025 campaign in which they remained in contention and finished with 82 wins.

The return to contention was largely fueled by a handful of key contributors, headlined by an MVP-caliber shortstop in Bobby Witt Jr. and a reliable starting rotation that gave the Royals a chance to win seemingly every night. One area that continued to lag behind, however, was the bullpen.

Outside of the newly acquired Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estévez, Kansas City’s relief corps was incredibly volatile and too often found ways to lose valuable games that the Royals seemed to have in their grasp.

Therefore, following the aforementioned promising 2024 and 2025 seasons, the Royals’ front office entered the most recent offseason targeting bullpen help as one of the team’s biggest needs. 

At the top of general manager J.J. Picollo’s wish list was a high-leverage left-handed reliever to help right-handers Erceg and Estévez late in games. As fate would have it, the Philadelphia Phillies happened to have a familiar name available on the trade market who fit exactly what they were looking for.

On December 19, 2025, Royals fans were seemingly gifted an early Christmas present with the acquisition of Matt Strahm for right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan, who had a very limited track record at the big-league level.

Nearly a decade away from Missouri, the prodigal reliever had finally returned to help push Kansas City over the top to true contention in the American League.

The 2026 Royals Bullpen

Unfortunately for the Royals and their bullpen, that optimism aged incredibly poorly once the 2026 season got underway.

In just the second game of the season against the Atlanta Braves, closer Carlos Estévez surrendered six runs in the ninth inning, including a walk-off grand slam from Dominic Smith that handed Atlanta the victory. To make matters worse, Estévez has not taken the mound for Kansas City since that night in Atlanta, as a left-foot contusion landed him on the 60-day injured list with seemingly no clear timetable for his return.

The loss of Estévez only increased the pressure on the rest of the bullpen. With their established ninth-inning option suddenly unavailable, Kansas City hoped Lucas Erceg and the newly acquired Strahm would step up and fill the enormous void left behind.

Instead, the duo of relievers have failed to answer the call.

Immediately following Estévez’s absence, Lucas Erceg was given the opportunity to take over closing duties after serving as the Robin to the now-injured closer’s Batman in 2025. Erceg had been phenomenal in that supporting eighth-inning role in years past, but it did not take long for the right-hander to look like a fish out of water in the ninth inning.

Over the next couple of months, Erceg blew six saves, tying him for the second-most in Major League Baseball, which eventually resulted in him being removed from the ninth inning altogether.

His struggles, however, have extended beyond his time in the closer role. Erceg currently owns a 6.07 ERA and has seemingly surrendered runs nearly every time he takes the mound. Those struggles have ultimately led to his removal from high-leverage situations, as the organization looks to help one of its most electrifying arms salvage the last months of his season and head into 2027 on somewhat of a positive note.

While Erceg labored in the ninth, Strahm looked almost unrecognizable in a setup role that he had performed so well in for several years.

The veteran was expected to provide a stabilizing presence in a young and inexperienced bullpen, but he wound up being anything but. Through 41 appearances, Strahm has accumulated 35.2 innings and a disastrous 7.32 ERA, representing a nearly five-run increase from his 2025 mark.

Strahm’s regression has not been limited to simple surface-level run prevention that can be attributed to bad luck or just the ups and downs that come with being a big-league reliever. Instead, there are tangible differences and concerns within Strahm’s game that likely are the root causes of his performance.

The easiest aspect of his game to point to is how his control appears to have diminished considerably. He has walked 14 batters this season, already surpassing his total from his All-Star 2024 campaign despite pitching nearly half as many innings. For a pitcher of Strahm’s pitchability archetype, whose success is predicated on keeping hitters off balance and consistently pounding the edges of the strike zone, this trend is particularly alarming.

Additionally, one of the most notable changes in Strahm’s repertoire, and undoubtedly a contributing factor to the worst season of his career, has been the effectiveness of his slider. A pitch that has served as a go-to out pitch for the left-hander throughout his career has gone from his most effective offering to his least effective in 2026.