Sisk's delivery is as 'nasty' as it is 'funky'

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The best way to really describe Evan Sisk’s delivery is “funky.”

A left-handed near-sidearmer, Sisk throws from a low three-quarters slot with a cross-body delivery that leads to deception and an especially tough matchup for lefties.

That different look, along with Sisk’s 1.57 ERA in Triple-A Omaha last year, led the Royals to add him to the 40-man roster over the offseason, not wanting to lose him to another team when he became a Minor League free agent.

“I’ve heard from other teams saying, ‘When are you going to protect Evan Sisk? That guy is nasty’” pitching coach Brian Sweeney said. “It’s the total package. He’s big and tall, long levers throwing across his body from a side arm. Forty inches of separation across a 17-inch plate. It’s really pretty impressive that he’s able to do that.”

The roster addition increased the Royals’ bullpen depth with a unique reliever who could help them in 2025. Sisk is finally getting into a rhythm this spring after the flu drained him of his energy early in camp and caused him to lose some weight. He made his first Cactus League appearance last weekend, but he needed a bullpen in between to feel like he was back to full strength.

On Saturday, Sisk threw a scoreless inning in the Royals’ 5-3 loss to the Rangers at Surprise Stadium.

“It was good to get out there,” Sisk said. “Still working on some stuff. Had some big misses with the slider. But just trying to eliminate that, and overall, I felt pretty good. The energy’s back.”

The 27-year-old has come a long way from when the Royals acquired him and Steven Cruz, two prospects at the time, in a trade that sent Michael A. Taylor to the Twins in 2023.

Sisk was a non-roster invitee to camp that spring, but he struggled that season, allowing 43 earned runs in 61 innings in Triple-A for a 6.34 ERA, with 62 strikeouts and 40 walks.

And Sisk wasn’t even in big league camp in 2024, although he did log seven Cactus League innings.

“The year before just motivated me,” Sisk said. “Had a down year. It was rough. Just the motivation from the year before really helped me get better.”

Back in Triple-A in 2024, Sisk was dominant, looking more like the pitcher the Royals thought they had acquired. In 57 1/3 innings, Sisk brought his walk rate down to 11.4% while increasing his strikeout rate to 35.4%, a career-high and an increase of 14% from the previous year.

Sisk has extreme platoon splits, so he added a cutter and curveball that help him with righties, who hit .307 against him in 2023 and just .221 against him in ‘24.

Lefties had a .252 average against Sisk in ‘23, but then knocked only eight hits against him in ‘24 for an .093 average.

“Everything I have goes into lefties, unless it’s my sweeper going away,” Sisk said. “So I need something hard going into righties. That’s the main goal with the cutter. The curveball helps, too. The sweeper tends to go into that bat path for them, so the curveball just has more depth to it.”

As long as everyone stays healthy, there are not a ton of spots open in the Royals’ bullpen right now. Lucas Erceg, Hunter Harvey and Carlos Estévez, who has been dealing with back tightness but is on a normal bullpen progression now, will make up the back end of the ‘pen. John Schreiber, Angel Zerpa and Sam Long will pitch in leverage innings, while the Royals are hoping Chris Stratton can bounce back from a shaky season last year.

That leaves one remaining spot. Carlos Hernández is getting opportunities in Cactus League games to earn a roster spot. He’s out of options, and the Royals might not want to risk another team taking a chance on the big, hard-throwing righty.

The Royals could also decide to put Daniel Lynch IV -- who allowed one run in three innings Saturday -- in the bullpen if Kris Bubic wins the fifth rotation spot. Others competing for a bullpen spot with Sisk include Cruz, Jonathan Bowlan and non-roster invitees Taylor Clarke and Junior Fernández.

Now that Sisk is back on the mound this spring, the Royals are going to give him opportunities to show what he might bring to the bullpen.

His funky delivery and unique look might soon be in Kansas City.

“That’s my biggest thing,” Sisk said. “I’ve never had crazy velo. So uniqueness and deceptiveness is what I need to do to be successful.”