Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16
OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI
Spoiler!
Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.
1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).
Spoiler!
Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.
RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).
Spoiler!
Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.
ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.
Current Prospects to Watch:
OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.
1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.
OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.
OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.
3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.
SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).
1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.
Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),
In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
The article doesn't mention Acuna but says their top 4 that summer were Vlad, Soto, Matias and Jeison Guzman.
What that tells me is that if there are guys they are similarly certain about in IFA in the future, they should be willing to blow it out when the time is right.
$12 million in investment ($4 million - Vladito; $3 million - Soto; 2.2 million - Matias and 150k - Acuna, plus tax penalties) would have completely changed the course of the franchise.
Actually makes me feel a little better about their hesitance to spend big this year. [Reply]
Hoz batted ball profile is almost identical to John jay. Hahhaha! One was a scrap heap player and one is 8-144. (Symborski calc it at 8-160 given the value of the options Hoz got last three years)
164 qualified hitters, 3 have Groundball ratios over 3:
1 Jay 3.69
2. Hoz 3.66
3. Desmond 3.17
The avg is only 1.25x for all qualified hitters. Meaning Hos is pounding the. All into the ground so often he's at three times the avg
He's always pounded too many worm burners but his career avg is 2.09. High for a 1B yes, but nothing like what's going on this year. Just awful [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
What that tells me is that if there are guys they are similarly certain about in IFA in the future, they should be willing to blow it out when the time is right.
$12 million in investment ($4 million - Vladito; $3 million - Soto; 2.2 million - Matias and 150k - Acuna, plus tax penalties) would have completely changed the course of the franchise.
Actually makes me feel a little better about their hesitance to spend big this year.
Not me. Unless we find some diamonds in the rough Matias is really our only hope in the last 4 years of IFA signings. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
What that tells me is that if there are guys they are similarly certain about in IFA in the future, they should be willing to blow it out when the time is right.
$12 million in investment ($4 million - Vladito; $3 million - Soto; 2.2 million - Matias and 150k - Acuna, plus tax penalties) would have completely changed the course of the franchise.
Actually makes me feel a little better about their hesitance to spend big this year.
That said - a lot of scouting is about luck and shooting your shot when you have it.
You could look at it as 'man, the Royals were on those guys and I'll bet they'v learned lessons that ensure they get the next 'core 4' signing class....'
You could just as easily say that the Royals had it on their racket and miffed it. Buckner never got another grounder - sometimes you had your moment and then your moment is past. Given the highly competitive nature of the scouting process, I'd probably trend more closely to the latter than the former. It would be damn hard to really have that kind of opportunity again. And frankly I'd imagine that even the Royals didn't realize they had it at the time (afterall, knowing what they know now they'd have obviously pulled those triggers in a heartbeat).
But seriously, I wanna know what the hell 'couldn't get the money together in time' means. There has to be an interesting backstory there. Some intern get lost on his way to the bank? I mean we hear stories like that all the time where some prospect is seemingly going to sign with Team A, vanishes for 2 weeks and later we find out that at the last minute he just signed with Team B and went to one of their latin academies without anyone knowing. The Yankees had that happen with Torres and the Cubs, IIRC.
Weird shit happens in the span of 15 minutes with those Latin American signings. I'd be curious to know if there's more to that story. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
But seriously, I wanna know what the hell 'couldn't get the money together in time' means. There has to be an interesting backstory there. Some intern get lost on his way to the bank? I mean we hear stories like that all the time where some prospect is seemingly going to sign with Team A, vanishes for 2 weeks and later we find out that at the last minute he just signed with Team B and went to one of their latin academies without anyone knowing. The Yankees had that happen with Torres and the Cubs, IIRC.
Weird shit happens in the span of 15 minutes with those Latin American signings. I'd be curious to know if there's more to that story.
Hey, remember how skeptical I was of Kelvin Gutierrez, the most highly-rated prospect of the three guys the Royals got for Kelvin Herrera? It's early, but since joining the Royals he's 8-for-52, dropping his seasonal line in Double-A to .252/.299/.358. He turns 24 next month.
That's from Rany, yea trade already not looking to great. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
Hey, remember how skeptical I was of Kelvin Gutierrez, the most highly-rated prospect of the three guys the Royals got for Kelvin Herrera? It's early, but since joining the Royals he's 8-for-52, dropping his seasonal line in Double-A to .252/.299/.358. He turns 24 next month.
That's from Rany, yea trade already not looking to great.
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
How's Herrera doing for the Nats?
That is 100 percent besides the point, if I sell you a car that has performed well and you get it and it doesn't perform that doesn't mean I should give it to you for free. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
That is 100 percent besides the point, if I sell you a car that has performed well and you get it and it doesn't perform that doesn't mean I should give it to you for free.
No, it's actually not.
If you only had 1 offer for that car and knew that after a test drive that offer would be withdrawn, you're gonna take that 1 offer while you know it's still standing. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
Hey, remember how skeptical I was of Kelvin Gutierrez, the most highly-rated prospect of the three guys the Royals got for Kelvin Herrera? It's early, but since joining the Royals he's 8-for-52, dropping his seasonal line in Double-A to .252/.299/.358. He turns 24 next month.
That's from Rany, yea trade already not looking to great.
Gutierrez is the 3rd most important part of that trade, 'rankings' be damned.
Perkins is the floor and Morel is the ceiling. Morel is almost certainly the guy they really wanted with Perkins being their insurance policy in case the teenage fireballer doesn't pan out (because they rarely do).
Gutierrez is organizational depth and likely to never amount to more than that. Prospect guides overvalue proximity to the big leagues when looking at rankings, especially when the team seeking a return is the Royals who have no real concerns about whether or not a guy's gonna make the show in the next 2 years; their timeline is 4-5 years down the road. [Reply]
Haven’t gotten any scouting notes on Morel, but Perkins d and speed are just as good as hoped and he has a .400 OBP in around 100 plate appearances at Wilmington, which is a terrible home hitting park.
Still would have rather had one of the Nats higher ranked guys than those 3, though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
If the Philadelphia Phillies miss out on Manny Machado, who seems destined to join the Los Angeles Dodgers in the coming days, the team is expected to turn its attention elsewhere for help on the left side of the infield.
A source told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com the Phils would pursue Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas or Minnesota Twins third base/shortstop Eduardo Escobar. The team is also expected to look for bullpen and rotation help, and Zach Britton remains an option.
Earlier Tuesday, Philadelphia still believed it had a chance at Machado. However, a recent report suggested a deal sending the Baltimore Orioles superstar to the Dodgers was increasingly likely.
The 29-year-old Moustakas was linked to the Phillies earlier in the season. The third baseman is on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2019 that's unlikely to get picked up. Over 91 games this year, Moustakas owns a .249/.306/.466 slash line with 19 home runs and three stolen bases.
Escobar, 29, is having a bit of a breakout for the Twins this season. In 90 contests, the infielder owns a .834 OPS with 14 homers and 35 doubles. He's eligible for free agency for the first time this offseason.
Looks like the Machado deal is done. Interest in Moose should pick up now. I thought it might be a big trade when I saw the Dodgers were trading 5 guys. That's a ton for a rental, but only one is a top 100 type guy. Dodgers have done a good job not giving up many of their real big star prospects.
The return to the Orioles for Manny Machado: OF Yusniel Diaz, 3B Rylan Bannon, RHP Dean Kremer, RHP Zach Pop and 2B Breyvic Valera.
Diaz is the only top-100 type. Kremer could be a dude. Bannon undersized 3B crushing in Cal League. Pop is a reliever, Valera 26-year-old in AAA.