John

Schreiber

The 30-year-old right-hander wasn’t quite at his best in his first season with the Royals, posting a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and a 46/20 K/BB ratio over 51 2/3 innings in his 59 appearances. He’s probably third in line for save chances behind Lucas Erceg and Hunter Harvey entering the 2025 season, so his usefulness from a fantasy perspective is limited to leagues that count holds.

Schreiber missed three weeks with a knee injury. The Royals’ team leader with 19 holds this season, he’ll return to a setup role.

Schreiber seems set to avoid a lengthy absence. He’ll be eligible to come off the injured list on Aug. 13.

Schreiber will get at least 15 days off after leaving Sunday’s game. The veteran has a 4.14 ERA and a team-high 19 holds in 43 appearances for the Royals.

Schreiber threw just one pitch in Sunday’s game — getting Christian Bethancourt to ground out to first base to end the sixth inning. He was expected to return for the seventh, but was pulled after reporting the discomfort in his right knee. He’ll head for further evaluation to determine the severity of the injury.

All three of the runs were originally declared earned, but that would have been a farce, as Austin Wells was initially given a single on what was a clear error from Garrett Hampson at second base. Schreiber has been making a case to take over the closer’s role from James McArthur in Kansas City, but today was a clear setback in that regard, especially after McArthur pitched a scoreless ninth and wound up with a win.

It was his third appearance in four days. McArthur had been perfect in three outings since a disastrous May 31 outing in which he gave up four runs without retiring a batter to take a blown save. This pushes his ERA back up to 5.27, and the Royals are going to have start thinking about giving John Schreiber save chances.

Josh Schreiber, McArthur and Will Klein combined to give up nine runs in the eighth after the Royals entered the inning with a 3-2 lead. The good news for McArthur was that Schreiber, the Royals’ best alternative in the closer’s role, was pretty much equally ineffective tonight. Schrieber still has a big ERA lead on McArthur (3.00 to 5.32) and McArthur is up to four blown saves, so a change might be considered.

Schreiber had pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings when he was hit by a Julio Rodríguez liner, that resulted in a single. He appeared to be OK, but the Royals decided to go to closer James McArthur, who was already warming up, with the man on base.

Schreiber has his first save of the season, first as a member of the Royals and just the ninth of his MLB career. The right-hander has been outstanding in 2024, however, with an ERA now of 0.98 as evidence. There absolutely could be more save chances for Schreiber as the season progresses, but it’s far from a guarantee.