For all things Royals in 2022. #3 minor league system according to Baseball America. The Bobby Witt era should begin this year. Will Salvy still be the homerun king? How does the glut of infield players work out? Will the young pitchers take the next step?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Zack Greinke, P
Amir Garrett, P
Taylor Clarke, P
Top 10 Prospects from Baseball America
1. Bobby Witt, SS
2. Asa Lacy, P
3. MJ Melendez, C
4. Nick Pratto, 1B
5. Jackson Kowar, P
6. Kyle Isabel, OF
7. Frank Mozzicato, P
8. Ben Kudrna, P
9. Jonathan Bowlan, P
10. Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B
Duncan's Top Royals Prospects
Spoiler!
1. Bobby Witt, Jr., SS. MLB.
This status lasts about another 4 weeks, but let’s take a moment to appreciate having the top guy in the minor league prospects lists for at least a little while longer. Witt has prodigious ability and the question is really just IF he can meet it. They have not had a prospect like this in my lifetime, and really probably ever. Combine insane raw physical skills (right there with Adalberto Mondesi and Willie Wilson in the ranks right behind Bo Jackson) with unbelievable work ethic, a humble-but-confident nature, and already having shown he can struggle and overcome to achieve big success, and you have the tools for a show-stopping centerpiece. Oh, and throw in the former-player’s kid aspect on it on top of things, and there is every reason to believe he’s going to succeed and succeed big.
2. M.J. Melendez, C, AAA Omaha.
I was early on putting him in this slot last year, and I don’t regret it. The power, the ability to be a good defender behind the dish as well as having the athletic ability to play 3B or LF, too, and you have a really valuable overall piece and FANTASTIC understudy for Salvador Perez.
3. Asa Lacy, LHP. AA Northwest Arkansas
Whoa, let’s get crazy again. Lacy has outstanding stuff. Top of the system. He got hurt and lost his command during COVID times, but appears to be back on track so far this spring. If his command sticks, this is a guy who can move quickly. And his ceiling is really second to nobody in the minor league pitching ranks.
4. Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B. AA Northwest Arkansas
Vinnie starts the season back at AA due to the guy who follows him on the list here. He just hits, folks. I love his combination of contact, loud contact, plate discipline, and lack of strikeouts. The Billy Butler comparisons are annoying (in that I will NEVER refer to this man as Italian Breakfast except in the instance that just occurred), but the Billy Butler comparisons are also fairly apt… if you made Butler a lefthanded hitter, AND improved his body/athleticism from a 20 to a 40, AND if you added that little extra touch of power we all wished Butler could consistently find.
5. Nick Pratto, 1B, AAA Omaha.
Hey, let’s stay at 1B. Pratto has flashy power and I love his batting eye AND his hand-eye coordination. The hair he’s been rocking this spring is also pretty sweet. I slot him just behind Pasquantino simply because I think his bat profile is more volatile. The glove and arm are sweet/plus for 1B, though.
6. Jonathan Bowlan, RHP, AAA Omaha
Bowlan is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and this ranking is assuming that recovering is successful. If it his, you’re talking about a big, consistent SP who throws hard enough and has enough of a repertoire to really make things happen. If the recovery goes well, he may be shuttling to the majors in July to reinforce the rotation.
7. Nick Loftin, CF, AA Omaha.
Loftin is a guy who has really grown on me. I saw him as a quasi super-utility guy when the Royals drafted him, The full-time shift to CF (which means they think he has the speed and the overall defensive ability to handle CF in Kansas City) adds a lot of value here. The ultimate positive offensive upside is similar to peak Whit Merrifield, maybe with a touch more early power.
8. Michael Massey, 2B, AA Northwest Arkansas.
Massey was an absolute revelation last year, hitting for power and average and keeping his K rate down while playing a really strong 2B. He has a very sweet, short lefthanded stroke. This is another aggressive rating, but Massey has proven himself through a tough minor league assignment already, and the arrow is pointed up.
9. Ben Kudrna, RHP, Rookie Ball
Kudrna is a big, physical specimen with a lot of upside and potential. The fastball and slider are already nearly MLB-level in terms of velocity and movement (command needs work). Kudrna is a guy who, with luck, and health, and good development, could ascend to the top of a rotation.
10. Frank Mozzicato, LHP, Rookie Ball.
Mozzicato has a curveball that suggests he has a feel for spin. If you want to dream, you hope that the next 2-3 years turn the 175 he weighed when drafted into a rock-solid 220/225 and carries with it an increase in fastball velocity from 90-91, sitting 87-88, to 96-97, sitting 93-94. You pair his ability to spin the ball (which also suggests he should be able to easily master a sweeper slider) with that type of fastball velo and a changeup he already has a feel for, and it’s an exciting profile.
He has a little more to go in terms of growing into that projectability than Kudrna, which is why he slots right behind him.
11. Alec Marsh, RHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Marsh missed a lot of 2021 to injury, but the hard-throwing righthander is another guy who could move quickly once the minor league season starts. He’s undeniably got the stuff of a quality major-league pitcher. The question is if he can master enough command to cash it in. This guy is a great example of TINSTAAPP.
12. Angel Zerpa, LHP, AAA Omaha
Zerpa might quickly outperform this slot. His stuff ticked up in 21 and he ended the season making a start in the majors. He’s nice depth to have, and honestly, I’m a big fan of just throwing numbers at pitching. Zerpa definitely helps create the depth you need to generate a top-notch and reliable home-grown rotation.
13. Maikel Garcia, SS, AA Northwest Arkansas
Garcia is a really intriguing hitter, a righthanded hitter who has a nice combination of contact skills and control of the strike zone (this cousin of Alcides Escobar is less savvy with the glove and more savvy at the plate). The Royals protected him for a reason (he’s on the 40-man).
14. Carter Jensen, C, A ??
Jensen is a local product whose bat will probably push him off C (as well as the Royals depth at that spot throughout the organization). This is a future 1B profile, and a nice one. He makes a lot of loud contact and shows an ability to lift the ball. Should be fun to watch this year.
15. Ben Hernandez, RHP, A+ Quad Rivers
Hernandez missed a good part of 2021 but still has that butterfly changeup and a classic pitcher’s profile. He’ll need to find a reliable swing-and-miss secondary to make it in the bigs, but if not, the fastball velocity and changeup should make him a quality high-leverage reliver.
16. Dylan Coleman, RHP, AAA Omaha
Speaking of relievers, Coleman is a hard-throwing righthander who probably spends most of 22 in the Royals’ pen. ½ of the compensation for the Rosenthal trade a few years back, Coleman has a big fastball and nasty breaking ball.
17. Will Klein, RHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Speaking of relivers, everything I just said about Coleman? Yeah, you can say it about Klein, too. Klein regularly toyed with hitters at high A last year, striking out 121 hitters in just 70 1/3 innings pitched. For those counting at home, that’s a 15.5 K/9 rate. Yep. That’ll play.
18. Anthony Veneziano, LHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Here’s another big, power arm. Veneziano hasn’t been relegated to bullpen only yet, though. His fastball bumped into the high 90s last year on a starter’s workload. He’s still looking for a changeup, but if he doesn’t find it, you’re looking at a really promising future bullpen fireballer.
19. Erick Pena, OF, A ?
Pena did… not have a strong 2021 full season debut. His struggles look a lot like those of Pratto and Melendez in 2019. Pena has the same type of raw toolkit to work from as those two, with great hands and natural power. He needs to fix a hitch in his swing and calm it down, but so did Melendez. Of this second ten grouping, Pena has the highest upside and could jump right into the top 5 of the org ranks.
20. Darryl Collins, OF, A+
Collins is an international signing out of Europe. I like the hitting package here – good eye and contact skills. He needs to make more loud contact, but if he can, really a nice guy.
Overall takeaways:
This is a system with a lot of depth. We could go another 10-12 deep and still be talking about guys with a good shot to make the majors. The changes to the organization’s approach are bearing fruit, as even less-heralded draftees are stepping forward.
The combination of upside (Witt, Melendez, Lacy), depth, and guys you can dream on is fun. It may not produce quite as much as the 2011 group did, but it does offer a more sustainable system, less reliant on a few big-ticket guys.
I wonder what travel these 10 Restricted List players are doing with their families during their extended all star break.
I would like to bet that reservations for family travel starting yesterday or today were firmed up weeks ago once they learned Royals would use Restricted List and not roster manipulation during this Toronto weekend.
Royals beat reporters should ask the team and each of the 10 players. The team probably cannot answer, but the individual players ought to be on the record on whether or not they answered this question and what answers did they give. [Reply]
At this point, the focus of our anger and frustration needs to no longer be at Matheny, Eldred, Picollo nor even Dayton Moore. This mess is Sherman's and he is doing absolutely nothing about it. Sell the fucking team, or wake the fuck up and be an owner. Do something, for the love of all things Holy. This franchise has actually gotten worse in his short tenure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard:
At this point, the focus of our anger and frustration needs to no longer be at Matheny, Eldred, Picollo nor even Dayton Moore. This mess is Sherman's and he is doing absolutely nothing about it. Sell the ****ing team, or wake the **** up and be an owner. Do something, for the love of all things Holy. This franchise has actually gotten worse in his short tenure.
Making firing decisions in the middle of season just to make a move is horrible decision. You make the decision at the end of the season. [Reply]
I have no doubt Sherman will do something when the season's over, if not before. He has every reason (desired new downtown stadium in 2026) to get this shit fixed quick and turned around or his bigger plans will up and vanish like a fart in the wind . . . . . . [Reply]
Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard:
At this point, the focus of our anger and frustration needs to no longer be at Matheny, Eldred, Picollo nor even Dayton Moore. This mess is Sherman's and he is doing absolutely nothing about it. Sell the fucking team, or wake the fuck up and be an owner. Do something, for the love of all things Holy. This franchise has actually gotten worse in his short tenure.
Here's the problem for you guys, and it's a big one, where the gap in the lines here?
Fellas, Cleveland is coming again. That system is loaded. I think I saw they have 8 top 100 prospects right now? 2nd place has 5. And they aren't fringy ones. I know Espino is shelved right now but I wouldn't trade that guy for Grayson Rodriguez or Shane Baz. He's CRAZY electric. It's a generational arsenal. Gavin Williams has come screaming up behind him this year as well.
When you guys are banking on Melendez, Vinnie and Pratto to kick off the next wave, the Indians have Valera, Arias and Roccio who are equally well regarded. Meanwhile Nolan Jones as exploded back from injury, Josh Naylor has taken a big step forward, Gimenez is fulfilling his promise at only 23, Logan Allen is a nice complementary lefty. And then they have a genuine superstar in Jose Ramirez. And their staff has a legit ace att he top in Bieber, a strong #3 type in McKenzie, Clase is a hammer (Karinchak still might be).
That team is in such a nice position going forward. The White Sox are struggling mightily but still have some very nice young talent especially with their pitching. The Twins are just a fairly reliably good organization with several good pieces in place. The Tigers seem to be very similar to the Royals right now but more prospect depth than I'm seeing in KC.
If Witt becomes a genuine superstar; a 7+ WAR kind of player - you might have an edge there. Riley Greene is probably the only stick in the ALC I see that can hang with Witt long-term (J-Ram is 29). I guess Torkelson has that ability purely as a bat but he's obviously struggled this year. Poor Royce Lewis just can't stay on the field.
But even if the rebuild goes relatively well, y'all have put yourself at the back of the line and will have to power through some organizations that seem to have much stronger footing/foundations over the next 5+ years. Gonna need to get lucky, I guess. [Reply]
Originally Posted by jettio:
I wonder what travel these 10 Restricted List players are doing with their families during their extended all star break.
I would like to bet that reservations for family travel starting yesterday or today were firmed up weeks ago once they learned Royals would use Restricted List and not roster manipulation during this Toronto weekend.
Royals beat reporters should ask the team and each of the 10 players. The team probably cannot answer, but the individual players ought to be on the record on whether or not they answered this question and what answers did they give.
Get outta here with that trash. It’s a personal health decision, and that means MYOB. The science is settled on this anyway: Whit correctly relayed the CDC own findings the vax doesn’t prevent transmission.
Justin Trudeau needs to be the guy being pestered by the “Royals beat reporters” [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Get outta here with that trash. It’s a personal health decision, and that means MYOB. The science is settled on this anyway: Whit correctly relayed the CDC own findings the vax doesn’t prevent transmission.
Justin Trudeau needs to be the guy being pestered by the “Royals beat reporters”
You mean the dentist blogger who pretends to be important? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Get outta here with that trash. It’s a personal health decision, and that means MYOB. The science is settled on this anyway: Whit correctly relayed the CDC own findings the vax doesn’t prevent transmission.
Justin Trudeau needs to be the guy being pestered by the “Royals beat reporters”
Has your opinion on Matheny and his bible study clubhouse changed at all? [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I think that's why Mozeliak was so fond of him now that I think about it.
It's HARD to be routinely exposed for piss poor decisions you make and still maintain a haughty air of smug superiority.
Mozeliak does better than anyone I've ever seen. But Matheny isn't too far behind him. Mozeliak is essentially Matheny's older brother. And when things keep heading south, both of them are just gonna double down on how great they are while putting more effort into dodging responsibility for the problems than they do into actually fixing them.
Matheny's continued employment in this sport is a complete mind-**** to me. I wouldn't even let him be a minor league instructor. Okay, maybe I'd let him do that - in small doses he may provide some bit of fortune cookie wisdom he read from the back of a menu or a jesus pamphlet someone stuck under his windshield wiper somewhere.
But you can't even let that guy be a full time assistant. He is Sisyphus's boulder. He's the water that formed the Grand Canyon. He's unrelentingly burdensome and in time he just breaks people down to where Whit Merrifield essentially answers an interview question with "Hey, I'd have gotten vaccinated if we didn't suck - so please trade for me; I promise I'll get the jab if you get me out of here..."
But guys - he went to a couple classes. He learned from his mistakes!
As I warned y'all at the time - the problem with Mike Matheny (at least early stage Mike Matheny) has nothing to do with his eagerness to be good. I absolutely believe he tried to improve. No - the problem with Mike Matheny is that he is just an unintelligent person. He's stupid. And you can send stupid people to as many classes as you want and they may listen intently. But ultimately they're still stupid - they're just going to learn the wrong lesson.
Duncan, you'll love this one:
Finished that one up a month or so ago - probably my 2nd favorite book in the whole series. The difference between Frank and Brian isn't necessarily in the storytelling as Brian can tell a fascinating story. It's in the philosophy woven into Frank's novels. There are great little thought experiments littered throughout those books. That said, he got up his own ass in The God Emperor; I didn't even finish it. Made it about 2/3 of the way and quit. Read a Wiki on the ending and went onto Heretics.
Yes, he's a dumb fraud who's bad at everything a manager for a team like Kansas City needs its manager to be good at. I've said that consistently, from Day 1.
He HAS shown marginal improvement in his bullpen usage (or at least did last year), but everything else still sucks.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Here's the problem for you guys, and it's a big one, where the gap in the lines here?
Fellas, Cleveland is coming again. That system is loaded. I think I saw they have 8 top 100 prospects right now? 2nd place has 5. And they aren't fringy ones. I know Espino is shelved right now but I wouldn't trade that guy for Grayson Rodriguez or Shane Baz. He's CRAZY electric. It's a generational arsenal. Gavin Williams has come screaming up behind him this year as well.
When you guys are banking on Melendez, Vinnie and Pratto to kick off the next wave, the Indians have Valera, Arias and Roccio who are equally well regarded. Meanwhile Nolan Jones as exploded back from injury, Josh Naylor has taken a big step forward, Gimenez is fulfilling his promise at only 23, Logan Allen is a nice complementary lefty. And then they have a genuine superstar in Jose Ramirez. And their staff has a legit ace att he top in Bieber, a strong #3 type in McKenzie, Clase is a hammer (Karinchak still might be).
That team is in such a nice position going forward. The White Sox are struggling mightily but still have some very nice young talent especially with their pitching. The Twins are just a fairly reliably good organization with several good pieces in place. The Tigers seem to be very similar to the Royals right now but more prospect depth than I'm seeing in KC.
If Witt becomes a genuine superstar; a 7+ WAR kind of player - you might have an edge there. Riley Greene is probably the only stick in the ALC I see that can hang with Witt long-term (J-Ram is 29). I guess Torkelson has that ability purely as a bat but he's obviously struggled this year. Poor Royce Lewis just can't stay on the field.
But even if the rebuild goes relatively well, y'all have put yourself at the back of the line and will have to power through some organizations that seem to have much stronger footing/foundations over the next 5+ years. Gonna need to get lucky, I guess.
Yeah, Cleveland has really done a nice job putting its pieces together. Espino has had health issues this year but is an absolute monster and super fun to watch.
The Royals seem to have gotten to an excellent place with hitting development - similar to where the Indians are with pitching development. If they can spike up the pitching development at all levels, and especially in the major leagues, while keeping the hitting development rolling, KC could be a contender in this division.
Have to have the right people in EVERY seat, though. And I don't think KC has ever really had that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
One advantage the Royals have over the Indians is the Royals are willing to spend money. Cleveland is cheap.
Cleveland is just SUPER cautious.
They'll spend, but they aren't going to typically spend in the middle that much. They got Ramirez cheaper than he'd have made on the market, but not 'cheap' by any means. They've tried to get Bieber extended at, IIRC, around $20 million/yr. I believe they did the same with Kluber.
The tribe had an $88 million payroll just a few years ago; the season before COVID, IIRC. When they have guys, they'll pick and choose who to spend on and who to trade. And ultimately it's gonna mean that some of them will have to take a little less to stay - but the Royals do the same thing in that regard.
If KC has Lindor, they'd have done exactly what the Guardians did. They'd have never offered him $300+ million. The Royals would've never offered Trevor Bauer $34 million/season. The Indians will spend - they just won't do so irrationally. And if they approach an agent and get stuck at numbers that they aren't willing to go to, they'll trade the guy.
I wouldn't rely on payrolls to get you past Cleveland. They'll keep a team together if they have a good one. [Reply]
The 2023 schedule changes will diminish the chances of one division opponent locking another team out of a chance at the postseason.
Baseball has a lot of examples of teams that get on a postseason run and beat teams that won more games during the season.
56 Games in Division — 14 vs. each division rival. Down from 19
60 Games vs. Rest of League — 6 vs. each remaining team in league.
46 Games of Interleague Play — 3 games apiece vs. 14 teams in other league; 4 games vs. “ natural” rival. [Reply]