Mizzou in the Majors: Crow to Close

■ Royals' Crow on becoming the closer: "I'm up for it" (Kansas City Star)

Right-hander Aaron Crow, the Royals’ newly anointed closer, knows what he’s up against.

After all, if Crow — a hard-throwing rookie right-hander — didn’t fully understand how hard it is to close games in the big leagues before this season, he certainly does now. That’s because for the last two months, he’s witnessed the implosion of Joakim Soria, a man widely regarded as one of baseball’s finest closers.

“It should be a challenge, I’m up for it,” Crow said.