Royals bolster bullpen with acquisition of Hunter Harvey in deal with the Nationals

The upstart Kansas City Royals have made a move to help their bullpen. The Royals acquired right-hander Hunter Harvey from the Washington Nationals for third base prospect Cayden Wallace and a competitive balance draft pick (No. 39), the team announced.

Kansas City entered Saturday ranked 22nd in bullpen ERA and 29th in bullpen strikeout rate. The Royals badly need to get more swing-and-miss in their relief crew and Harvey, 29, has struck out a well-above-average 26.3% of the batters he’s faced this season. He will jump right into their late-innings mix, and possibly even close.

With Harvey now in the bullpen, Royals manager Matt Quatraro could line up his relief crew like so:

• High-leverage: RHP Hunter Harvey, RHP James McArthur
• Setup: RHP John Schreiber, RHP Chris Stratton
• Middle: RHP Nick Anderson, LHP Will Smith, LHP Angel Zerpa
• Long: LHP Sam Long

Harvey owns a 4.20 ERA in 45 innings this season, though he posted a 2.70 ERA with a stellar 28.6% strikeout rate with the Nationals from 2022-23. The Royals will be able to retain him in 2025 as an arbitration-eligible player, so he is not a rental. We did not rank Harvey among the top 30 trade candidates leading up to the July 30 deadline.

Wallace, 22, was Kansas City’s second round pick in the 2022 draft. He’s hit .282/.350/.427 with three home runs in 34 Double-A games this season. MLB Pipeline ranked Wallace as the No. 2 prospect in the Royals’ system prior to the trade, and note that he “could be (a) power-hitting everyday third baseman” long-term.

Competitive balance draft picks are extra picks given to small market teams. They are the only draft picks that can be traded. Washington now owns three of the top 44 and four of the top 79 picks this year. The 2024 draft begins Sunday.

Saturday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox (BOS 5, KC 0) dropped the Royals to 52-44 on the season. They are one game behind Boston for the third AL wild-card spot.

The Nationals erased a 5-0 deficit to pick up a win Saturday (WAS 6, MIL 5). They are 44-52 and six games out of a wild-card spot.