Free agent reliever Alex Lange is finalizing a one-year contract with the Royals, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The righty had been released by the Tigers on Tuesday. The Royals have an opening on the 40-man roster.
The 30-year-old Lange is a former first-round pick who spent a few seasons as one of Detroit’s top relievers. He worked as A.J. Hinch’s closer for a good chunk of the 2023 season, going 26-32 in save chances. Lange turned in a 3.68 earned run average while striking out 27.4% of opposing hitters across 66 innings that year. He got grounders on half the batted balls he allowed while missing bats on a huge 15.5% of his offerings. Lange was prone to bouts of wildness but his stuff played.
Lange’s strikeout rate plummeted early in the 2024 season. Detroit demoted him to Triple-A by the end of May. Lange seemed like he was bouncing back against minor league competition until he suffered a significant lat injury. That required surgery which not only ended his ’24 campaign but shelved him until August this year. Lange was essentially a non-factor for two straight years. He only pitched one time at the big league level this past season, working around two hits and a walk to complete a scoreless inning.
The encouraging sign is that Lange’s stuff didn’t appear diminished. He averaged 96.2 MPH on his sinker and 88.4 MPH on his knuckle-curve in that lone big league appearance. Both velocities were marginally up from where he’d sat two years ago. Lange punched out nearly 30% of Triple-A opponents while turning in a 4.63 ERA across 24 appearances. He also walked 14.3% of batters faced, but that’s par for the course for a pitcher who has always had well below-average control.
It’ll surely be a cheap one-year flier on a pitcher with plus stuff and some high-leverage experience. Lange has a minor league option remaining, so the Royals can keep him in Triple-A Omaha next season without exposing him to waivers. He has between three and four years of service, meaning K.C. could control him for three seasons. Lange will need a healthy season to convince the Royals to tender him contracts that’d make the extra control years meaningful, but there’s a bit of long-term upside.
Royals aren’t sitting on their hands this year either.
Poor Royals lol
Worth a gamble — consistency has been his issue. Has stuff when he can locate it.
This is the second move the Royals made today to bolster the bullpen. Both have high leverage experience. The Royals want to compete. Yesterday it was the Braves, today, it’s the Royals.
I thought they would nontender James MacArthur because he basically spent the whole year on the injury list
Clever signing.
He didn’t give up a single run last season in the majors.
Obviously, the 18 hits per nine and 9 walks per nine are pretty scary, but at the end of the day. the bottom line is what matters. Zero runs allowed is zero runs allowed…
Worth noting: a team that was trying to get high-leverage innings out of Jose Urquidy, Drew Sommers, Bailey Horn, and Tanner Rainey’s corpse in September refused to give this guy, their former closer, a sniff of the mound.
!
I’m in shock
He went to Lee’s Summit West
I was baffled why they would sign him until I saw that on baseball reference.
Did not have this guy on my bingo card
Watching Lange pitch always reminded me of Jim Eisenreich. It always seem like he was like that on the mound. Tiger fans probably wish him well I believe as I do.
Wish him luck but he just walks way too many batters to be dependable.
Could be another signing for enough that he might not leave if they have to DFA him later.
The new Baltimore chop.