Scott Barlow is a free agent again, and this release stings a little different than most. He was Kansas City's closer not that long ago, the guy racking up 40 saves across 2021-22 with a 2.30 ERA and a strikeout rate north of 28%. That version of Barlow made this a homecoming worth writing about when the Royals signed him to a minors deal back in early July. Instead it turned into a quick goodbye.
The road here was rough. Barlow opened the 2026 season on a one-year, $2 million deal with Oakland, and the numbers there were genuinely strange — he got shelled at home, giving up 22 earned runs in just 15 2/3 innings, but was nearly untouchable on the road, allowing only 2 runs in 17 2/3 innings. Whatever was going on, it got him released by the A's, which is what sent him to Kansas City on a minor league flier in the first place.
The reunion never got off the ground. Pitching for Triple-A Omaha, Barlow posted a 5.65 ERA over 14 1/3 innings and, more alarmingly, walked 15 of the 67 batters he faced — a 22.4% walk rate that's a death sentence for any reliever trying to climb back to the majors. The bigger red flag is velocity: a fastball that used to sit 92-93 mph has reportedly settled around 89 mph, and that kind of dip at 33 is hard to spin as a blip.
None of that erases what Barlow meant to that Royals bullpen a few years ago, back when he was one of the more reliable ninth-inning arms in the American League. But this is a results business, and right now the results say a command-challenged setup man who's lost velocity and lost the strike zone at the same time. That's a tough combination to sell to any front office.
Barlow is now a free agent for the second time in a matter of months, and it's fair to wonder how many more chances are left. Contenders looking for bullpen depth down the stretch will be tempted by the name and the track record, but the tape from both Oakland and Omaha says buyer beware. For now, Kansas City moves on and opens a roster spot, closing the book on a comeback that barely got started.