Kansas City Royals youngster Angel Zerpa shows uncommon level of comfort in debut
Kansas City Royals left-hander Angel Zerpa didn’t expect a late-season promotion to the majors. Sure, he’d been on the club’s 40-man roster. But by late September, it surely seemed like that ship had sailed.
Zerpa had stints this season with the Royals’ Double-A, High-A and Triple-A affiliates. Yet he found himself climbing the last run of that organizational ladder on Thursday, making his major-league debut in a 6-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium a few days after he celebrated his 22nd birthday on Monday.
“I felt good,” Zerpa said. “I was a little bit shocked. I wasn’t expecting to be called up this late, but I felt great.”
Zerpa, who the Royals signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in July of 2016, became the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Royals since Zack Greinke in 2005 (21 years, 344 days).
“I felt a little bit nervous in the bullpen, but when I was walking to the dugout I didn’t feel nothing. I was focused on throwing strikes, attacking the zone. That’s it.”
Zerpa showed a fastball that reached as high as 95.4 mph and averaged 94.2 mph. He also threw a slider, a sinker and a changeup.
He allowed three hits in five innings. He allowed just two unearned runs. Both came in the third inning following a throwing error that allowed the first batter of the inning to reach.
Zerpa struck out four and walked one in his first outing in the majors.
“I thought he was terrific,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He came out pounding the strike zone. He was really good to the glove side. I thought the breaking ball was sharp. Everything came out of his hand looking good. It was a quick arm. It looked like it go on the hitters with a little bit of deception. It looked like he’d been here for a while.”
He became the seventh pitcher age 24 or younger to start for the Royals this season, which is a single-season record for the club.
He also became the seventh pitcher in Royals history to pitch at least five innings without having allowed an earned run as a starter in his debut. The most recent pitcher to do so was Eric Skoglund on May 30, 2017.
Matheny wasn’t the only one who noticed that, despite his inexperience and age, Zerpa showed almost no visible signs of first-game jitters or nervousness.
“He handled himself a lot better than I did when I made my debut, I’ll say that,” Royals catcher Cam Gallagher said. “He was really composed. He looked like he was out there his 15th, 20th time doing it. It’s good to see a young guy come up here and have the confidence and composure to compete. … He did really well today and has a lot to look forward to.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 12:29 AM.
