Richard Lovelady (RP, KC) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Richard Lovelady: Name of a 19th Century romantic novelist, or 23-year old rookie reliever for the Kansas City Royals out of Kennesaw State University? If you're still curious, the answer is the latter, and Lovelady's track record suggests that he could be a force to be reckoned with in a Royals bullpen that is currently ranked third-worst in baseball in relief ERA (7.05). It isn't that Lovelady has just been impressive, he has quite truly failed to not impress with his work on the mound in all aspects of professional play since he entered the minors in 2016. In 167.1 IP across four seasons at the A+, Double-A, and Triple-A levels, he has netted a 1.99 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, as well as 0.2 HR/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 9.7 K/9. He even produced a 2.08 ERA with 11.4 K/9 and zero HR allowed during spring training this year before his first 1.1 IP of MLB regular season play in which he holds a 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and already has three strikeouts.

The Kansas City bullpen is definitely struggling, with more established players like Brad Boxberger, Wily Peralta, Scott Barlow, and Glenn Sparkman all coming up pedestrian or worse across the board. Lovelady also has the advantage of being a left-handed reliever in a bullpen with only one other southpaw currently up in the majors (Jake Diekman). The opportunity to climb the ranks into more high-leverage relief situations is there for the taking in Kansas City, and with Richard Lovelady's track record of success, he is a great candidate to take full advantage of that opportunity.