For all his talent, here’s real reason this Royals reliever is one of MLB’s best
As Royals pitching coach Brian Sweeney and reliever Lucas Erceg chatted in the outfield before a game at Kauffman Stadium the other day, their conversation drifted to one of the close friends of the so-called “fireman.”
An actual wildland firefighter, one of the most dangerous and intense jobs imaginable.
Sweeney, a volunteer firefighter himself, laughed as he thought about Erceg’s friend marveling at how stressful Erceg’s job must be … and how absurdly the premise struck Erceg.
Because as much as Erceg might tell Sweeney he wants “all the smoke” and appreciates the cool metaphor for his job, he knows there is zero comparison to the true heroics of his friend’s work.
“Lucas sees what goes on in life and in the world,” Sweeney said. “It gives him perspective enough to … (have) the freedom to be the best version of himself out there.”
The best version of Erceg is nothing less than a pillar of the Royals’ resurgence back to the postseason in 2024 with encouraging signs of more to come this season.
Both for the team, 7-6 as of its 3-2 victory over Minnesota on Thursday at The K.
And for Erceg, who as of Thursday afternoon is tied for the MLB lead in holds with five and has yet to give up a run in seven 2025 appearances.
The 29-year-old right hander acquired at the trade deadline last season has nimbly adjusted from the closer role in which he thrived to this more free-form but as-or-more-daunting task: hyper high-leverage situations against the most dangerous parts of the opposing order in the pivotal innings before the ninth.
Another man, and an earlier version of himself, might have been angry or hurt when Royals leadership called in the offseason to tell him they’d acquired Carlos Estevez to supplement — if not usurp — the prominent place Erceg had earned.
But this is where you can get a sense of why having perspective is more than just a compelling trait Lucas has acquired by experience — perhaps most of all from his journey through the “6/10/20” sobriety anniversary he’s had stitched on his gloves the last few years.
Lucas Erceg’s perspective on baseball (and life)
As much or more than his “stuff” on the mound and sheer talent and work ethic, Erceg is fortified by an inspirational mindset that seems to me to be as applicable to real life as it is to baseball.
So how he processed the arrival of Estevez is a telling snapshot of something far more meaningful.
While he may momentarily have been disconcerted, he found it meaningful to have been told about it in advance and soon processed it through a filter he now applies to about everything:
Every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he asks himself goes something like this: “’Is the decision I’m going to make, the choice I’m going to make right now, is that going to allow me to be a better person? Is it going to allow me to be a better baseball player?’”
Here’s how he computes the answer: “I’m going to choose to put myself in the best possible position to, number one, know that I’m enough. Number two, to love myself and to love the people around me. And, three, be the best baseball player and teammate I can be.”
Presto …
He promptly embraced the arrival of the 32-year-old Estevez, who turned out to be an irresistible persona with much to share and model. And he’d take pride in the fresh challenge of being this essential part in a wicked back end of the bullpen with early echoes of the Kelvin Herrera-Wade Davis-Greg Holland combo:
The right-handed combo of Hunter Harvey, Erceg and Estevez (four saves) through Thursday has allowed a total of one run in 17.2 innings, a collective ERA of 0.52.
(Consider, too, emerging lefty Daniel Lynch IV, who also remains unblemished by a run in seven innings and six appearances. Going back to 2024, Lynch has gone 27.2 innings without giving up a run).
“I don’t treat it any differently. I don’t think of it as any different. So it’s not any different, right?” Erceg said. “You’re kind of what your mind tells you. With any choice that you make in life outside of the field, on the field, in the clubhouse, you have the choice to make it what you want or what you want to perceive it as.”
Gratitude for sobriety
That approach might be just about compulsory with the occupational hazards of the job.
But it’s something that Erceg is particularly eloquent about and seems especially girded for because of his experience with alcoholism and facing those real demons.
He knows he’s not here, not with his wife and not the human being he is without having dealt with the self-sabotage and getting sober.
And his gratitude is constantly reinforced by thinking about all he has and even when he sees others in the throes of alcoholism, knowing on one level or another he can relate to them and but for the grace of God might be among them.
All of that helps him also have perspective on the inevitable pitfalls of the job — an especially crucial attribute in the social media era further warped by the proliferation of legalized gambling.
Even for all his success, the combination of the two seismic forces has led to some appalling comments and threats against Erceg and his wife on social media posts.
Like, he recalled, “‘Hey, why don’t you pick up the bottle again?’”
Or “‘I hope your husband drinks again, and you guys drive home and get in a car accident and die.’”
Such viciousness is a jarring reality that athletes at all levels are dealing with these days.
Maybe few are as equipped as Erceg to process it.
“If we weren’t so strong mentally,” he said, “how would we see those comments and not think anything of it?”
Or, more precisely, think this of it:
“Like I’m not perfect, they’re not perfect,” he said. “They have the same stresses of their own that I can relate to just like they think they can relate to our stresses.”
He never responds and supposes that people that say such things must be troubled in some way and may be projecting something that they’ve got going on.
Whatever they’re suffering from, he added, “I’m sorry that they do.”
But those voices aren’t the hardest part of the job.
The life of a ‘fireman’ in MLB
It’s managing the voice inside whenever he heads to the mound.
“You’re scared of failing,” he said. “Because you put all this effort and intent and focus into preparing to find that success, and still something deep in the back of your mind is saying, ‘Man, don’t (mess) this up.’”
Without perspective, he said, he could allow that lurking sensation to keep scaring him and render him passive and bury his career.
Or he can remember this:
“Fear, it’s made-up, right?” he said. “We put ourselves in that position of fear.”
If you can understand that fear is a fake product of negative thoughts, he added, “we can change our thought process and … fuel success through fear, if that makes sense.”
When I asked him whether managing that requires finding a compartment or harnessing it, he said, “It requires, I think, understanding that it’s (only) real in your head and irrelevant outside of your head.
“It’s not to say that I’m just going to stare fear in the eye and then just look away. Because I know it’s still right there.”
But only as a figment of his imagination.
And something he can tame with perspective.
“I mean, life is hard, but life is also beautiful, right? Which way do you want to look at it?” he said. “I’m going to choose to look at it beautifully while knowing it’s hard.
“So that way when it is hard, I can still have a little bit of light and kind of know that I‘m still going in the right direction.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.