Royals Sign Reliever Alex Lange to One-Year Deal

[Kevin O'Brien]

 

The Royals were active on Thursday evening, the night before the non-tender deadline. Their significant move was signing free-agent reliever Alex Lange to a one-year deal, first reported by Royals beat writer Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Royals made the signing official later in the evening.

 

Lange only made one appearance for the Tigers in 2025, as he spent most of the year on the IL recovering from lat surgery in June of 2024. Due to that injury, he only pitched one inning in 2025 and 18.2 innings in 2024 with Detroit. However, in 2023, he not only appeared in 67 games and pitched 66 innings, but also posted a 3.68 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, and recorded 26 saves as the Tigers' closer. 

Control has long been an issue for Lange at the Major League level. He has a career walk rate of 13.5%. Even during his 2023 season, he posted a walk rate of 15.6% and a K-BB% of 11.8%. In his injury-plagued 2024 campaign, he allowed a walk rate of 18.9% and a K-BB% of 4.4%.

Despite those issues, the Lee's Summit West High School alum remains an intriguing project for the Royals and pitching coach Brian Sweeney. He sports a career K rate of 27.2% and a career CSW% of 31.7%, according to Fangraphs. Furthermore, while he pitched primarily in Triple-A in 2025, he posted some intriguing metrics, according to his TJ Stats summary.

Lange posted an overall TJ Stuff+ of 102, and all four of his offerings sported grades of 50 or over, with his sinker and knuckle curve sporting 60 and 56 grades, respectively. While his ability to find the zone was inconsistent (42.3% zone rate), he still generated a 42.2% whiff rate and a .266 xwOBACON in 23.1 IP with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.

Lange's addition fills out the Royals' 40-man roster, which was at 39, after the additions of pitchers Ben Kudrna and Steven Zobac. However, some roster spots could be cleared by tomorrow's 3 p.m. non-tender deadline. 

 

Photo Credit: © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

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