The Royals released veteran right-handed reliever Justin Topa from their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d signed a minor league deal with Kansas City in early July but is once again a free agent.
The 35-year-old Topa opened the season in the Twins’ bullpen. He’d spent the prior two seasons in Minnesota’s bullpen, missing most of 2024 due to injury but posting a solid 3.90 ERA in 60 frames last season.
Topa entered the year with a long injury history but a track record of success in the majors when healthy. He’d logged a 3.15 ERA with good command and a big grounder rate but below-average strikeout numbers in the three preceding seasons — a total of 131 1/3 innings between the Twins and Mariners.
The 2026 season wasn’t kind to Topa. The right-hander’s sinker, slider and changeup all lost velocity, and he worked to an ugly 8.05 ERA in 19 innings before being cut loose by the Twins. Topa’s 54.4% ground-ball rate was terrific, but his typically solid command evaporated. He walked a career-worst 12% of his opponents and was dinged for four homers in that short time (an average of 1.89 per nine innings). Topa’s 13% strikeout rate was nowhere close to the 20.2% mark he carried into the season, and a paltry 5.3% swinging-strike rate didn’t portend a resurgence in punchouts.
Topa has signed minor league deals with both Toronto and Kansas City since being cut loose by Minnesota. He’s pitched well in both places — including 12 2/3 innings with just one earned run allowed during his stint with Kansas City’s Omaha affiliate. Overall, Topa has pitched 20 2/3 minor league innings this season (all at the Triple-A level). He’s logged a tidy 1.74 ERA but still has a concerning 14.1% strikeout rate. His 8.7% walk rate is sharp, but Topa’s typical ground-ball tendencies haven’t been on display (41.8%). He’s worked more off his four-seamer than in the past during this Triple-A run, but Topa has also noticeably scaled back his slider usage. That might help to explain both the downturn in grounders (more four-seamers, slightly fewer sinkers) and in whiffs (fewer sliders, slightly fewer changeups).
Even with the lack of missed bats and some reduced velocity, Topa should be an option for contending clubs hoping to stockpile bullpen depth in the season’s final few months. There aren’t many avenues to adding talent now that the trade deadline is in the past, and Topa has a decent track record in the big leagues. The Twins are paying the remainder of this year’s $1.225MM salary, so a new club would owe Topa only the prorated minimum for any time he spends on the big league roster/injured list.
