Daniel Lynch IV builds up to 59 pitches

Lynch gave up two hits, walked two and struck out one. He’s made three starts since the Royals moved him into the rotation, but is yet to reach 50 pitches thrown. Lynch threw 45 pitches against the Athletics on Tuesday. He’s unlikely to have fantasy value in these abbreviated starts. Lynch is lined up to face the Tigers at home on Sunday.

All three runs came off long balls allowed by Lynch; a solo shot by Mookie Betts and a two-run blast by SHohei Ohtani. The southpaw gave up just one other hit and struck out three, but it’s another unimpressive start for the 29-year-old. It’d be a mistake to trust him as a streamer for a scheduled start against the A’s next week.

Lynch pitched a scoreless first inning, but after retiring the first two batters he faced in the second inning, he would allow the next four batters he faced to reach base and was credited with allowing four earned runs when all was said and done. Lynch would see two of those runs come across to score on an RBI double by Pete Crow-Armstrong, with the other two coming across to score after Seiya Suzuki singled off Jose Cuas. This was Lynch’s first start of the season and just his sixth start since 2024. If he gets another turn, he would be scheduled to start on Wednesday on the road against the Dodgers, which may not go much better than what we saw today.

MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports that this is part of a larger chance the Royals are giving Lynch to earn a spot in the rotation. The left-hander was a starter in the minors, but his own injuries and other free agent signings have pushed him to the bullpen, where he has a 1.96 ERA in 46 innings. He has a career 18.5 percent strikeout rate and has thrown more than one inning just tiwce since May 15th, so we wouldn’t get your hopes up for much fantasy value in his first few starts.

We assumed Erceg would be down today after throwing 32 pitches and giving up three runs with a five-run lead in Sunday’s game. The Royals had other ideas. To be fair, Erceg didn’t give up one hard-hit ball today, Two of the singles actually left the bat at less than 40 mph, and the lone extra-base hit, a double from Jazz Chisholm Jr., might have been handled by a better first baseman than Salvador Perez (he’d just replaced Vinnie Pasquantino after Pasquantino was removed for a pinch-runner). With any luck, this probably would have been a clean inning for Erceg. Still, Erceg just isn’t a very good reliever at the moment, what with his 18/13 K/BB in 21 1/3 innings. Daniel Lynch IV, who worked a scoreless eighth today, might be asked to take over in the ninth for now.

Lynch struck out three of the four. Lynch was only the choice to close today because both Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm had pitched the last two days, but he’s been the Royals’ best reliever this season. He still might wind up being interesting in fantasy leagues if Carlos Estévez fails to return to form.

Erceg walked Gunnar Henderson on seven pitches, only to pick him off afterwards. Another walk and a groundout followed. Facing Pete Alonso, Erceg got ahead 1-2 but walked him after a couple of borderline check-swings weren’t called. Samuel Basallo then singled to tie the game. Erceg’s stuff is down a notch this year, but he actually had great velocity tonight, throwing 1-1.5 mph than his season averages. Still, he certainly can’t afford to walk batters like this when he’s just not getting many strikeouts. This might open the door for Matt Strahm and/or Daniel Lynch IV to receive save chances.

The former starter had a solid year out of the bullpen in Kansas City, pitching to a 3.06 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and 45/25 K/BB ratio in 67 2/3 innings. The command will need to get better if Lynch is going to repeat that in 2026, but there is some upside with the 29-year-old in the bullpen.

Lynch returns to Kansas City’s bullpen mix following a one-month absence due to nerve irritation in his left elbow. The 28-year-old former starter has posted a respectable 2.59 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 29/22 K/BB ratio across 41 2/3 innings (39 appearances) this season.

Lynch has been out since early July recovering from nerve irritation in his left elbow. The 28-year-old southpaw should be ready to rejoin Kansas City’s bullpen mix at some point in early August.