Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana
Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP [Reply]
Lot of talk about Will Taylor in the 2nd. If so, the ceiling is Trout like (well, that's the hope), the floor is Starling. Has 5 star tools but no one is sure if they’ll translate to the diamond. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
Lot of talk about Will Taylor in the 2nd. If so, the ceiling is Trout, the floor is Starling. Has 5 star tools but no one is sure if they’ll translate to the diamond.
Extra slot money would come in handy since he already at Clemson playing football. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch:
Words that should never be said
Seeing that Baseball America labels him an EXTREME risk, it would be the most Royals thing ever to pick him after a Colon esque underslot in the first. [Reply]
The only clip I have seen on the local KC news is they liked his command and that he had the best spin rate of any pitcher they evaluated before the draft. He went on to say you can't teach spinning the ball you either can or can't. Don't know anything about that but seems lots of pitchers develop curves and changeups to survive in the bigs. [Reply]
The only - ONLY - way I can see some sense of logic is if the Royals are convinced Will Taylor is the guy and is going to fall to them and this dude wasn’t going to be available at their next selection.
There are enough other teams that clearly went under slot that I can’t see confidence Taylor is going to even make it to their next selection.
I’m quite literally astounded the Royals passed on Rocker and House and Watson.
I’m quite literally astounded that Royals dove back into the HS pitching well - the worst waters to swim in high in the MLB draft - when so much other value was on the board.
Cool, he had a velocity uptick in HS ball this year and they think there is more in the tank. Sure. Bank on that. That always works out.
I thought they had learned some lessons here. Clearly I was wrong. I’m out.
I’ll probably be rooting for a shit-tastic dumpster fire from here on out. Just hope the elbows of Kyle Zimmer, Scott Barlow, Jake Brentz, and Josh Staumont survive it. [Reply]
I caught the futures game with my wife, 9 month old, and a couple of close friends today.
Nick Pratto had a really good AB (drew a walk against a pitcher who was throwing gas). He seemed to have a better approach in that AB than a lot of our lineup has had at any time in this half season.
Bobby Witt hit two scorching lineouts. Both of them were ones where the crowd gasped on contact -- just landed right into gloves. I think I read later the one was 113 mph on contact.
All in all a great time, and very, very much worth it for $28 for the three of us. Nine month old loved the crowd noise and being in the stadium (we weren't sure how he'd react since he hasn't had a lot of opportunities around people). It was a day to remember. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
On a slightly better note...
I caught the futures game with my wife, 9 month old, and a couple of close friends today.
Nick Pratto had a really good AB (drew a walk against a pitcher who was throwing gas). He had a better approach in that AB than a lot of our lineup has had at any time in this half season.
Bobby Witt hit two scorching lineouts. Both of them were ones where the crowd gasped on contact -- just landed right into gloves. I think I read later the one was 113 mph on contact.
All in all a great time, and very, very much worth it for $28 for the three of us. Nine month old loved the crowd noise and being in the stadium. It was one to remember.
I’m glad Bobby Witt Jr & Nick Pratto had great personalities. [Reply]
I do think it's interesting they talk about the kid's spin rate on his curve. I'm not sure how much I've heard them talk about something that analytical. Still, it's hard to imagine passing on some of the talent they passed on, especially for someone who is years away. If Rocker or one of the shortstops light it up it's going to look horrible. They have to absolutely hit a grand slam in the 2nd round to even get this back to a passing grade. And that's being generous. [Reply]