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 Prison Bitch:
Bitching is a bit of an overstatement. But it's fair to ask why this team is losing so many games. I've argued they should be winning more based on their talent. That's debateable but it's what I think.
Consider how awful this division is. All the teams suck. Cleveland even sucks. An ugly -6 under .500 against non division). If we were in the West or the AL Beast, holy hell we'd be challenging 119 losses. I
What talent? For all the luck the Royals had in assembling their World Series team with so many journeymen and guys available for cheap because they had injuries, they're having just as much bad luck in trying to re-stock those pieces since 2016.
Well, I mean, there have been numerous Dayton whiffs that made this glorious farm system that was the talk of baseball around 2012 actually not all that great, but a bunch of it actually is bad luck, not just bad scouting. Since the World Series, it appears only one high-profile guy from within the minors has been approaching his potential (Mondesi) and only one guy has been a lucky against-all-odds success that nobody saw coming (Merrifield).
And of course, consider some of the other horrific luck-- namely Ventura's passing and Gordon's unprecedentedly awful and sudden drop in batting performance in spite of receiving a contract many people considered to be a hometown bargain.
There are some intriguing pieces here and there who have put together nice stretches of great baseball, but they're too inconsistent to trust going forward as focal points of a baseball team who can one day get back to the playoffs.
At the end of the day, the talent left, the mean regression finally took place, and we're stuck with leftovers of a bad era of drafting. That's why we're this bad. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
What talent? For all the luck the Royals had in assembling their World Series team with so many journeymen and guys available for cheap because they had injuries, they're having just as much bad luck in trying to re-stock those pieces since 2016.
Well, I mean, there have been numerous Dayton whiffs that made this glorious farm system that was the talk of baseball around 2012 actually not all that great, but a bunch of it actually is bad luck, not just bad scouting. Since the World Series, it appears only one high-profile guy from within the minors has been approaching his potential (Mondesi) and only one guy has been a lucky against-all-odds success that nobody saw coming (Merrifield).
And of course, consider some of the other horrific luck-- namely Ventura's passing and Gordon's unprecedentedly awful and sudden drop in batting performance in spite of receiving a contract many people considered to be a hometown bargain.
There are some intriguing pieces here and there who have put together nice stretches of great baseball, but they're too inconsistent to trust going forward as focal points of a baseball team who can one day get back to the playoffs.
At the end of the day, the talent left, the mean regression finally took place, and we're stuck with leftovers of a bad era of drafting. That's why we're this bad.
It wasn't luck. It was getting things that baseball undervalued. Essentially moneyball 2.0. It would have continued to be effective, had the league not juiced the ball. Such as elite relief pitchers, which is the whole reason the Royals outperformed their run diff year after year.Then the juiced ball effectively ended the career of Jeremy Guthrie, and made many of the other fly ball pitchers the Royals utilized ineffective. Fly ball pitching + speedy OF with + defense was a staple of those World Series teams. They can utilize the size of Kaufman to the best of their advantage, and not have to pay for it. They utilized contact hitters to be the best of their advantage. Once the ball became juiced, it neutralized those hitters to some degree and placed higher importance on the fat guy who hits fly balls. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
It wasn't luck. It was getting things that baseball undervalued. Essentially moneyball 2.0. It would have continued to be effective, had the league not juiced the ball. Such as elite relief pitchers, which is the whole reason the Royals outperformed their run diff year after year.Then the juiced ball effectively ended the career of Jeremy Guthrie, and made many of the other fly ball pitchers the Royals utilized ineffective. Fly ball pitching + speedy OF with + defense was a staple of those World Series teams. They can utilize the size of Kaufman to the best of their advantage, and not have to pay for it. They utilized contact hitters to be the best of their advantage. Once the ball became juiced, it neutralized those hitters to some degree and placed higher importance on the fat guy who hits fly balls.
I'm talking about a very specific part of that WS team being luck.
The Royals don't go to the World Series if they don't hit on most of if not all of these calculated risks:
Chris Young
Ryan Madsen
Edinson Volquez
Kendrys Morales
Alex Rios (who finally put it together in the final part of the regular season)
They batted 1.000 on those guys.
Moore deserves all the credit in the world for those guys, but just as easily as you can absolutely nail a 2 year $20 million contract for a guy like Volquez, you can extend at a "hometown discount" a guy like Alex Gordon and see him absolutely tank in his OBP and power, even if you took into account him seeing a gradual slight regression in those areas when you offered him the deal. [Reply]
Two playoff appearances, two pennants and an average of 86 wins per season over five years.
Just about any fan of a team that isn't located in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York or St. Louis would be fools to say that's worth firing a GM over. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
I'm talking about a very specific part of that WS team being luck.
The Royals don't go to the World Series if they don't hit on most of if not all of these calculated risks:
Chris Young
Ryan Madsen
Edinson Volquez
Kendrys Morales
Alex Rios (who finally put it together in the final part of the regular season)
They batted 1.000 on those guys.
Moore deserves all the credit in the world for those guys, but just as easily as you can absolutely nail a 2 year $20 million contract for a guy like Volquez, you can extend at a "hometown discount" a guy like Alex Gordon and see him absolutely tank in his OBP and power, even if you took into account him seeing a gradual slight regression in those areas when you offered him the deal.
Didn't they go to the World Series the year before without any of them? [Reply]
