Why Royals’ Lucas Erceg feels different heading into his second season in Kansas City

Lucas Erceg traded kelly green for royal blue on July 30 last year when he was dealt to the Kansas City Royals from the Oakland Athletics.

Erceg quickly settled into the closer role for the Royals, throwing 25 Innings with a 2.88 ERA and recording 11 saves. He had three more saves in the postseason as the Royals made it to the ALDS, where they fell to the New York Yankees in four games.

Ercerg made his first in-game appearance of 2025 on Wednesday, throwing an inning vs. the Colorado Rockies. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out two.

Erceg fired a 98 mph strike to start his outing, getting a flyout a few pitches later. His second batter was Austin Nola, who ripped a 93 mph line drive off Erceg’s right cleat, which resulted in an infield single.

A few pitches later, a wild pitch went to the backstop, allowing Nola to advance to second. A strikeout put Erceg one out from getting through the inning unscathed, but then Keston Hiura wrapped a single to right field to score Nola.

A five-pitch walk followed, something Erceg did just three times in his stint with the Royals last season. The righty got his second strikeout to finish the inning.

The Hiura single changed the scoreboard, but what stuck in Erceg’s craw was the free pass.

“One thing that stood out to me was the walk,” he said. “I thought, for the most part, I was attacking guys.”

No matter if the game is in Surprise or in the ALDS in the Bronx, the juices are always flowing when pitchers are on the mound. For Erceg, that was something else he noticed during his outing Wednesday.

“I was a little amped, and there’s nothing like that first outing,” he said.

Erceg is starting his first full season with the Royals, with spring training taking place in a place he knows well. Erceg lives in Arizona during the offseason and has spent multiple springs with the Athletics in Mesa, but now Surprise is where he’ll call home for the next month.

Getting moved at the deadline is never easy for a player. For Erceg, it was not just moving his family from Oakland to Kansas City, but finding his place in the Royals’ clubhouse.

“When I got over here at the deadline, I was a little timid trying to fit in,” he said.

This year, he is much more comfortable in his own shoes.

“It feels nice coming back into camp with the same guys,” he said.

Erceg hopes to lock down more games for Kansas City in 2025, as the Royals look to build on an impressive 86-76 season last year.

The Royals will open their season at home against the Cleveland Guardians on March 27.