Jonathan Broxton knows it’s not what anyone envisioned when they signed him, but he’ll take the chance to close all the same. With Joakim Soria undergoing his second Tommy John surgery and staying out for the rest of the 2012 season, the Royals needed someone to step up. Given his history of success as closer, and the injury to Greg Holland as well, Broxton was a natural choice. So far, so good.
“My arm feels good, I’m going out there and just taking the ball every time they give it to me,” Broxton said. “I hate what happened to Jack, but as a team, you’re going to have injuries and people that struggle, so you’ve just got to be able to fill in when you need to. I just thank Dayton for giving me a chance to come here, and I know it’s not the role he wanted to put me in right off the get-go. So I’m going out there and giving it everything I have every day.”
Broxton has 6 saves and a 1.69 ERA so far in 2012 for the Royals and he’s given them the back-end veteran presence in the bullpen that a young team and staff like the Royals need.
“It’s a definitely a very young bullpen, younger than anything I’ve ever been a part of, but there’s so much talent down there,” Broxton said. “As soon as they put it together and learn how to pitch and learn the batters and learn how to handle situations, it’s going to be very special up here — especially in the ‘pen. The whole team’s young and there’s always a bright side to it. I know we’ve haven’t started out like we wanted, but we’ve got a lot more season to go.”
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