2024 Season in Review: Lucas Erceg

The up-and-coming reliever we traded at the deadline

Up next will be one of the pitchers the club traded at the MLB Trade Deadline. Former high-leverage reliever Lucas Erceg is up for today’s Season In Review.

How Was He Acquired?

The Athletics acquired Erceg for mere cash considerations from the Milwaukee Brewers on May 17th, 2023. He would make his MLB two days later but would go on to pitch in a whopping 50 games as a rookie relief pitcher.

What were the expectations?

Entering his sophomore year the 28-year-old Erceg was one of the top set-up options entering the year. In his rookie campaign he pitched 55 total innings while racking up 68 strikeouts, and that’s after joining the team in mid-May. While a lot of the fanfare was for fellow teammate and future All-Star Mason Miller, Erceg showed he had his own heater that could take down MLB hitters. Now with a year of experience in a major league bullpen, the hope was that the right-hander could take a step forward, joining Miller to help shorten games for an A’s team that needed as many of those as they could get.

2024 Results

Erceg began the season in the A’s bullpen but wouldn’t end the year there. The right-handed reliever did in fact take that next step in his second season, posting an improved 3.68 ERA during his final few months with the A’s. He rated as an above-average reliever, cutting his walk rate dramatically without a major sacrifice in the strikeout department. Joining Miller to make a tough back-end of the A’s bullpen, the club leaned heavily on Erceg during the first few weeks and months of the season, utilizing him in over a third of all their games and even asking him to step in for Miller in the Athletics’ closer role before the trade when his teammate was injured. Speaking of the trade...

...On July 30th, after weeks of speculation about a possible trade, the club pulled the trigger on their first deal of deadline season, sending Erceg to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for a package of three minor leaguers. The trade was a win-win-win for everyone in the short-term, as Erceg and the Royals helped each other to a playoff appearance and the A’s restocked their minor league season. Erceg stepped up his game even more for his new team, eventually take over the closer’s role for Kansas City as they made their way to the second round of the playoffs before falling to the New York Yankees.

The fact that Erceg had five more years of club control was a huge factor in why the A’s were able to bring back three prospects of note, and that’s not a bad return on investment from cash considerations just a year prior. We’ve already met fellow reliever Will Klein at the end of last year, and we may yet see the prize from the deal, starting pitching prospect Mason Barnett, speed through the upper minors and make his debut in 2025. It may be a while before we see the third player in the deal, outfielder Jared Dickey, since he finished the 2024 season at A+.

2025 Outlook

Erceg is still on the Royals and is under control for five more years. He will likely be their closer entering the 2025 season after thriving down the stretch and in the playoffs for them. He has the stuff to thrive in that role and with the remaining club control we can expect to see plenty of him when we see Kansas City. He’s joining the Royals at the right time as they look like they’re beginning what could be a long playoff window.