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.
Dayton, Dayton, Dayton. What are you doing? You just gave someone money for no ****ing reason other than to be noble.
Was scheduled to make 2.5M this year and 6.75M next year. Now making 7.25M this year and 6.75M next year. I suspect that would make him more difficult to trade too.
He was woefully underpaid. I am okay with it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by PurpleJesus28:
Hate to be that guy,but there will never be another Griffey Jr. Prime A Rod or Trout like power would be alright though.
Yeah. The juice A Rod was on is banned now I'm pretty sure [Reply]
Kansas City Royals:
MJ Melendez, C
Nick Pratto, 1B
Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B
(Triple-A Omaha)
The Royals are starting top hitting prospects MJ Melendez and Nick Pratto at Triple-A Omaha. Both players competed in big-league spring training. They have already dominated the upper levels of the minor leagues, posting OPSs above 1.000. This decision revolves around a lack of opportunity for them to play every day at the big-league level. Until an obvious spot exists, or until either player forces the club’s hand, they’ll play with the Storm Chasers. So will another top hitting prospect, Vinnie Pasquantino, a first baseman from Old Dominion. He proved this spring that he was ready for a bump to the highest level of the minors. The Royals will balance at-bats between Pasquantino and Pratto by having Pratto play some outfield; both will also slot in at the designated hitter spot.
Elsewhere in the system, the Royals chose to start youngsters Erick Peña and Carter Jensen at Low-A Columbia. The former was a highly sought after outfielder who signed internationally out of the Dominican Republic. Jensen was a third-round pick in last year’s draft. The level may challenge both hitters early, but the Royals are prepared to provide as many resources to their younger clubs as possible. — Alec Lewis
Originally Posted by :
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You had one choice Thursday evening at Kauffman Stadium: stand, look around and listen.
It did not matter who you were. A season ticket holder who has been coming to this ballpark for decades? A family member who had road-tripped from Colleyville, Texas? A casual fan who came because a friend had a spare ticket?
You were going to take this all in.
The two-syllable name was echoing inside a big-league stadium for the first time, and it was as if you were required to embrace it.
“Bobby … Bobby … Bobby.”
This cheer — the one in which mega-hyped Royals prospect Bobby Witt Jr. stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning on Opening Day with a chance to knock a go-ahead run as with his first major-league hit — foreshadowed what was about to happen.
“I kinda could see it coming a little bit,” pitcher Zack Greinke said.
“It was one of those you could foresee,” manager Mike Matheny said.
“It was unbelievable,” right fielder Whit Merrifield said.
Witt stepped into the box, the crowd still chanting his name. He pinwheeled his bat and kept his eyes on Cleveland Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie, who started him off with a fastball outside. Witt didn’t flinch. He took the pitch for ball one. He was searching for a pitch up in the zone, and when McKenzie left a slider hanging, Witt planted his front foot and smacked the ball into the left-field corner. Michael A. Taylor, the runner at second, raced around the bases to score the go-ahead run. Witt reached second base, turned toward the dugout, clapped three times, then nodded as if to speak for all those watching: What a perfect way for this to begin.
“It was a dream come true,” Witt said.
The movie does not always fulfill the expectations, but when it does, rarely can you stop thinking about it, talking about it or replaying the scenes in your mind. Royals fans who witnessed Witt deliver in the club’s 3-1 victory will harbor this memory forever.
“Today was one he will certainly never forget,” the Royals’ manager said, “and neither will I.”
This saga began practically in the opening credits. Once Witt finished his batting practice on the field, he grabbed his blond wooden bat and walked toward the dugout. Making his way out of the dugout was Kyle Isbel, a close friend of Witt’s who had seen plenty of sensational moments a year prior in the minors. Witt smiled. Of course he smiled.
“The kid just smiles,” Nicky Lopez said.
Isbel, as is often the case when Witt’s face lights up, could only smile back.
As the first pitch of the Royals’ season crept closer, Witt’s family and close friends, such as his high school coach, Alan McDougal, settled into suite No. 21 on the first-base side. Some had flown in the night before. Others drove up for the day. Driving in reminded Bobby Witt Sr. of games he’d pitched in Milwaukee: smoke rising from the grills, hardcore fans in blue scarfing down brats.
Senior wasn’t so much nervous as he was excited, with the afternoons in their Colleyville backyard on his mind. The day, for example, that Junior begged him to continue taking grounders.
“No, hit me a few more,” Junior hollered at his father.
“That told me right then it was, like, this kid really enjoys what he’s doing,” Senior told The Athletic earlier this year. “This isn’t something where I’m sitting there going, ‘You need to do this.’ I think he basically, at that point, realized it was something he wanted to do. And when you have that, you love it.”
That love is evident in the way Junior talks about the game, but also in the way he makes his way out onto a field. You can’t call it a jog, nor a run, nor a walk. It’s more of a prancing, with the way he springs on each foot toward his position. It’s as if his legs are pogo sticks.
From their suite, the family watched him take his spot at third base for the first time in the majors. A half-inning later, they were looking down at home plate for his debut at the plate. The hum of the crowd picked up as a Hippie Sabotage hit echoed through the speakers.
“Yeah we’re golden, babygirl we’re golden / they about to see a shine cause we’re golden / they can never break us down cause we’re golden.”
Witt was not so golden in his first at-bat against Shane Bieber. He swung at the first two pitches and flew out to right field. Witt’s arm was golden in the third inning, however. Cleveland shortstop Andrés Giménez lined one toward shortstop, where Witt was shifted. He scooped the ball and fired a bullet to Carlos Santana at first base.
Witt’s second at-bat came in the bottom of the third. He grounded one toward second base but was unable to beat the throw. At that point, Merrifield started to think the rookie was due.
“We’ve gotten so used to him,” Merrifield said. “When he has one or two at-bats where he doesn’t do anything special, we’re like, ‘All right, what’s up? When’s it coming?’”
Merrifield thought something would come in the sixth, but Witt could only hit a ball 110.4 mph (the hardest-hit ball of the game) directly to Giménez for a groundout. Then came his at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In general, the Royals performed solidly throughout the day, especially in the mid-40-degree weather. Greinke allowed only one run over 5 2/3 innings. Lopez made a diving catch in the fourth inning that Greinke called “one of the best plays I’ve ever seen.” On that play, Amed Rosario lined a 106.7 mph ball to Lopez’s left and the second baseman lay out and caught it. Lopez also contributed a double to left-center in the fifth.
Relievers Jake Brentz put a fire out in the sixth, and Josh Staumont got the final out of a scoreless seventh. Scott Barlow delivered a perfect eighth to get the Royals to the bottom of the inning with a chance.
A leadoff walk to Taylor put the wheels in motion. Lopez bunted him to second. After Merrifield struck out, Witt was the Royals’ hope. And at that point, Matheny started envisioning the questions he’d feel from the podium about Witt rising to the occasion. “I wasn’t concerned at all (about him being in that spot). I was excited, to be honest,” Matheny said. “It was one of those you could foresee me sitting here having this conversation, like, this how it’s supposed to go.”
That possibility came to fruition when Witt turned on the McKenzie slider and doubled down the left-field line. Matheny observed Witt’s reaction — three claps and a nod at the dugout — closely.
“It was like, ‘I just did something to help this group,’” Matheny said. “Maybe that’s coach-wishing, but I’m convinced that’s how he thinks. And you could see the first place he went with his eyes: in that dugout.”
Once Andrew Benintendi lined a ball into center, scoring Witt, the stage was set for Barlow to finish things off. He did, recording another six-out save. As he walked off the field, Matheny and Witt turned to look toward the suite beyond the bleachers, where they spotted Witt’s family.
“It was really cool to see my dad and the whole family. It was awesome,” Witt said.
Merrifield and Lopez bathed him in ice on the field. Then, after an interview with Bally Sports, Witt returned to the clubhouse. The Royals’ tradition is that any milestone first for a player calls for a celebration shower. Witt hopped in a laundry basket. His teammates scavenged the kitchen for liquids (water, mustard, Shatto milk) and let him have it.
Not to mention, the showers were cold.
“Welcome to The Show, kid,” Merrifield said.
Afterward, Witt realized he had to put his uniform back on to take pictures with his family. Another challenge on a day — and what will be a season and career — full of them.
The way he reacted to it all should come as no surprise. He smiled.
A week ago, we asked you for an honest take on a simple question:
Are you optimistic about your team’s chances in 2022?
Optimism exists on a scale, of course, but the MLB Hope-O-Meter required a binary answer: yes or no. More than 12,000 readers participated, picking one answer or the other, and over half took the optional step of explaining their answer. I read each of the 6,634 written responses, ranging from one-word exclamations to a 14-paragraph essay about the Blue Jays (I read it all, Alexi).
The answers were weird and witty and wonderful. There were scores of references to “cautious optimism”; oodles of “In [insert general manager’s name here] We Trust!”; countless professed optimists writing deeply pessimistic reviews of their favorite team; and over 100 responses that included the phrase “Sell the team, Bob,” targeted at the owners Castellini and Nutting.
So, rather than me feeding you another bite-sized preview of your team for opening day, why not open the floor to our readers? I collected a few representative reader replies for each team and condensed them to fit into a 1-30 fan-optimism ranking. Overall, two-thirds of voters said they were optimistic about their team, and one-third voted no.
Nine teams landed below 20 percent on the Hope-O-Meter. The rest were at least 48 percent optimistic.
Let’s count it down.
15. Kansas City Royals: 73.5 percent
Optimist Drew: Three words: Bobby. Witt. Jr.
Optimist Ace: Picture it — Bobby Witt Jr. arrives and thrives … Adalberto Mondesi stays healthy … Zack Greinke mentors the young pitchers … 90 wins or high 80s to make the late summer interesting? Dare to dream.
Optimist Scott: I think the Royals could be a sleeper contender this year, if all the stars align and the young pitching performs to the top of their potential. On the other hand, without stellar performances it could be just another middling year.
Pessimist Caleb: I am optimistic for next year. I think this year we find out what we have in the house. We need to decide this year who is a part of this window and who is not. Then, next year, like a lightning bolt out of nowhere, we strike.
Originally Posted by :
A few months ago, George Brett headed over from his house in Arizona to Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale. He’s played countless rounds at the course in the five years he’s been a member. But that day, something different happened.
As he was preparing to hit his approach shot into the 10th green, a golf pro at the course approached him.
“I’ve got a single out here who is looking to get in a game,” Brett recalled the pro saying. “Can he play with you guys?”
“Sure,” Brett said.
“Awesome,” the pro responded. “His name is Zack.”
Brett likes golfing with new people. “That’s how you get to know them,” he said. So he waited for the man named Zack to roll up in his golf cart. Once the man’s face began to come into focus for Brett from about 50 yards away, he was baffled.
“I’m going, ‘F—, that looks like Zack Greinke,’” the Hall of Famer said.
You best believe it was Zack Greinke. Even as he reached the group, Brett still looked at him befuddled.
“Zack, what are you doing?!” he asked.
“I’m looking for a game,” Greinke said.
Simple as that.
This was before the lockout ended. Greinke, at the time, was still a free agent. A return to the Royals seemed like something of a dream. Brett clubbed his approach shot toward the hole, and away the two old friends went, continuing an uncommon bond between two of the greatest players in franchise history.
Their relationship drifts back to 2004, the year Greinke debuted in the big leagues for the Royals. Greinke was 20 years old then. He needed a place to stay. As far back as his playing days, Brett had offered a room in his basement to players who had reached the big-league level and needed a place to stay. Jamie Quirk took him up on the offer. So did Clint Hurdle, Mark Gubicza and others.
Brett thought it’d benefit the young prospect to house him.
“(The big-league transition) is easier if you’re with somebody who knows the town,” Brett said recently. “I thought, ‘Why don’t you come over for the first month or whatever?’”
Greinke took him up on the offer and immediately hit it off with Brett’s sons: Jackson, Dylan and Robin. They were all young. They played video games together. After day games on Sunday, Greinke would even drive more than a half-hour to watch the young boys play their Little League games (and provide very honest feedback).
“He would drive all the way out to Johnson County,” Brett said, referring to the 30-minute drive. “Just to watch my kids play. It was like his three younger brothers.”
Brett’s wife, Leslie, did Greinke’s laundry. Overall, the bed and breakfast were so good that Greinke did not limit his stay to a mere month but instead stuck around for the entire year. Brett and the entire family relished having him.
“We had a wonderful time,” Brett said.
Fast forward almost two decades, and Greinke is now a six-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove Award winner, the 2009 American League Cy Young recipient and an owner of two Silver Sluggers. His family, too, has a house in Arizona, near Whisper Rock Golf Club. Greinke shoots around par — “really good player,” Brett said — so he joined the club to play in the offseasons.
That’s how he found himself in Brett’s group, and how Brett found out that what will ultimately happen Thursday — Zack Greinke starting again for the Royals, for the first time since 2010 — was possible.
Throughout the round, the two talked about many things: their wives, their kids, and, of course, baseball.
“Next thing you know, I’m asking him, ‘Well, what’s going to happen with this lockout?’” Brett said. “He says, ‘I don’t know. I don’t really know what’s going on. But I would love to end my career with the Royals.’”
Brett did a double-take.
“You’d like to come back?” he asked Greinke. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Greinke said, honest as ever.
The Royals’ brass knew of his interest. They believed Greinke’s presence could benefit a number of young starters whose developments are crucial. So, months after the golf outing between Royals greats occurred, and once the lockout ended, the club’s first call to an available free agent was to Greinke.
As the possibility began to seem real, Brett texted Greinke: “I hope things work out.”
“Me, too,” Greinke responded.
A week later, they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder inside the dugout at Surprise Stadium, wearing Royals uniforms. They talked for an inning and a half, mostly about how best to navigate the traffic on West Bell Road.
Brett told Greinke he knew some shortcuts.
“I’m leaving at 3 p.m.,” he told Greinke, recounting their conversation. “Follow me, I’ll show you how I go.”
“Eh,” Greinke said. “I’ve got some work to do. I’ve got to watch film of when I threw my side session. I want to see the spin rates. Then I have to work out.”
“That’s how serious he is about this,” Brett said later. “He could come in the next morning or next day, but he lives the game of baseball.”
Brett thinks it will be a joy to watch Greinke, now 38, pitch at Kauffman Stadium again Thursday and to watch him navigate lineups with loopy curveballs and pinpoint fastballs the way only Greinke can.
So much time has passed from then to now, but the day the signing became official, Brett received a text from Greinke.
“Well, it finally happened,” Greinke said. “Do you have the room in the basement ready?”
A fun thought, for sure, but Greinke is now a husband of a wife, Emily. They are the parents of three boys, Bode, Griffin and Jordy. A house is needed for that crew, which meant Greinke needed a real estate agent.
So he turned to a former roommate, video-game partner, and Little League mentee: Jackson Brett.
A Brett helping Greinke get situated in Kansas City? There really is no place like home.
