The year 2023 was not the year of the Kansas City Royals bullpen. It was a long, drawn-out year for the bullpen, which led to a 5.23 ERA. There was only one team worse than the Royals bullpen in terms of ERA, and it was the Colorado Rockies who posted a 5.41 ERA. 

Royals General Manager J.J. Picollo made it clear this offseason that one of their goals would be to strengthen the bullpen. They did that early when they acquired Nick Anderson from the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations. 

The four-year big leaguer has a proven track record of success, posting a 2.93 ERA over 122.2 innings while striking out 173. He was good for the Atlanta Braves last year as he posted a 3.06 ERA in 35.1 innings before landing on the injured reserve list in July due to a right shoulder strain.

Nice to see my guy and former #MNTwins prospect Nick Anderson looking solid. Sat 94 yesterday, hit 95. Mets and Royals were some of the other teams that had solid interest in him in November before he signed a split deal with Braves. Many teams offered a MiLB deal. pic.twitter.com/WE9XaHsM3I

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) March 6, 2023

The fact the Royals were able to obtain him from the Braves right before the non-tender deadline for cash is a win, regardless of how the trade works out. The Royals gave up nothing in return for a guy who has dominated out of the bullpen when healthy. Most of his success came with the Tampa Bay Rays, so you have to imagine the connection to Matt Quatraro, who played a role in the Royals going after him.

I mentioned in the non-roster invitee article that the Royals were targeting a lot of relievers with good curveballs. Well, add Nick Anderson to that list. You can find some incredible Pitching Ninja videos of Anderson making guys look silly across the league. The crazy part is his curveball doesn’t have an elite spin rate, but yet it induces a ton of Whiff. In 2023, Anderson went to the curveball 50% of the time and had a Whiff% of 40.4% on the pitch. It plays well off his fastball, which averaged 94.2 mph last year. 

Nick Anderson struck out 110 batters in only 65 innings with a 4SFB & this Curveball ⬇️441 Thrown (40.1% Usage)52 Ks 🔥.129 xBA 😍.229 xSLG 🥰.173 xwOBA 🤩54.2 Whiff% 💨32.9 PutAway% 🧹

Only 41 times was the ball even put into play! 😎#RotoBaller pic.twitter.com/HqD4L2tKOq