Michael Wacha on reuniting with John Schreiber in Kansas City: ‘Man, he gets amped up’
The Royals added to their bullpen on Saturday acquiring John Schreiber from the Red Sox for pitching prospect David Sandlin.
Schreiber heads to Kansas City and will reunite with former teammate Michael Wacha. The former Red Sox starter was asked how to describe Schreiber to Royals fans.
“Man, he gets amped up,” Wacha said to Royals reporters, including Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
“He’s a competitor. Very fiery on the mound. Really suits the back-end of the bullpen well with the type of competitiveness that he brings to the game. That guy will take the ball in any spot of the game, whether it’s middle relief, a tight matchup late in the game, some of those late-inning roles.
“He can get some big-time outs for us.”
The addition of Schreiber gives the Royals a high-leverage reliever that has experience pitching in late innings. The former Red Sox hurler isn’t the only veteran Kansas City added this offseason.
World Series champion Will Smith, Nick Anderson and Chris Stratton were also added to provide big league experience for Royals skipper Matt Quatraro.
“The good thing about all this is, you’re hoping we’re putting a much better team on the field,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “The more games you win, the more times you need high leverage relievers to pitch in the back-end. So we want to have as many options as we can there.”
Schreiber is coming off an up-and-down 2023 season. He recorded a 3.86 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 46 appearances (46 2/3 innings) last season with Boston. He began the year with a 2.12 ERA in his first 18 appearances before being placed on the injured list with a right lat strain.
Following his return from injury, Schreiber looked shaky, posting a 4.85 ERA over 28 appearances. The Michigan native heads into Royals camp healthy and general manager J.J. Picollo is pleased to have added a high-leverage relief option.
“We've been trying to continue to address the bullpen, and we wanted somebody who had been in some leverage situations before,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “We were real happy with our reports, real happy with the data we have on him.”
