Royals ***Official 2022 Royals Season Repository Thread*** - Page 6

Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard:
Jonathan Bowlan is still considered a prospect?

Why would he not be? Because of the Tommy John surgery?

He was dominating before the injury and on track to debut in the majors. He's got a lot of things to appreciate.
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Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Why would he not be? Because of the Tommy John surgery?

He was dominating before the injury and on track to debut in the majors. He's got a lot of things to appreciate.

He's been around for what 5 years now? And in that time he hasn't really pitched all that much. He's 25 and hasn't made it past High A ball. Just hard to get excited about someone that didn't pitch but 17 innings last year. Way too small a sample size of success as a 24 yr old in High A. Sure there are things to still like about the guy, but there are quite a bit more guys in the system i'd consider richer prospects than Bowlan that didn't get listed.
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I guess it's Royals or bust now - if they even play baseball. I hope they wait to bring the kids up instead of start them right away. Get that service time. yeah I'm that guy.
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Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard:
He's been around for what 5 years now? And in that time he hasn't really pitched all that much. He's 25 and hasn't made it past High A ball. Just hard to get excited about someone that didn't pitch but 17 innings last year. Way too small a sample size of success as a 24 yr old in High A. Sure there are things to still like about the guy, but there are quite a bit more guys in the system i'd consider richer prospects than Bowlan that didn't get listed.

He started last season at AA and made 4 starts there before his elbow popped. Definitely has made it past High A.

He was not as advanced as Jonathan Lynch or Singer or Bubic in that 2018 draft class, so he was always a level behind them. That and the injury and COVID delayed him a bit. Would have been in the majors last season had he stayed healthy.

TINSTAAPP, of course. But assuming he comes back strong from TJ (no indications he isn't or shouldn't) he's still very intriguing/exciting.
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Keith Law has his top 100 prospects out today. Adley Rutschman with the Orioles is #1 and Bobby Witt Jr is #2. Royals have 4 in his top 100.

https://theathletic.com/3074113/2022...chman-at-no-1/

Originally Posted by :
2. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals
Age: 22 | 6-1 | 200 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 2 in 2019

Previous ranking: No. 27

This was as close a call between the top two prospects that I can recall having, probably since my No. 1 and 2 were named Mike and Bryce before the 2011 season — and having Witt second here is no slight to him. Witt destroyed Double-A and Triple-A pitching last year as a 21-year-old with just 37 games of experience outside of high school, all of that coming in the Arizona Rookie League in 2019. He did go to the Royals’ alternate site in 2020, gaining significant experience against older pitching — many of them players who would appear in the majors for Kansas City in 2021 — which may have helped him progress despite the lack of actual games. He also came into power sooner than I expected, with 33 homers on the season, half coming in Double A with the minor-league ball, so this wasn’t some Triple-A mirage.

Witt’s tools package is among the best in the game: He’s at least a 70 runner, has an 80 arm, has plus power, and his hands and feet make him a plus glove at shortstop. There’s some thought he might outgrow the position in time, though that’s hardly a lock. Witt’s father, the former Rangers starter and No. 3 pick in 1985, has a similar frame and did not become overly broad or heavy, even in retirement. It’s possible the Royals would move Witt Jr. to accommodate another shortstop, but I see his future on defense as similar to the career so far of Carlos Correa. The majority of scouts thought Correa would outgrow the position, but he has stayed lean and been an above-average defender throughout his major-league tenure. The one knock here, and it is a small one, is that Witt has some swing and miss in his game, with a tendency to get too long and overrotate just a little — something he may very well improve once he has a few hundred at bats in the majors under his belt. Right now, it’s the only separator between him and Rutschman. They both belong in the majors now and both have MVP-level upside.

27. MJ Melendez, C, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 190 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 52 in 2017

Previous ranking: Unranked

The Royals saw their plate discipline numbers do a 180 across the system last year, and Melendez was one of the main beneficiaries of their new emphasis on hitting plans for their hitters. Melendez has always had plus-plus power and a ridiculous arm, but was a hacker through the 2019 season when he hit .163/.260/.311 with a 39 percent strikeout rate in High A, a disastrous season that in hindsight only underscores how incredible his transformation has been. In 2021, he hit .288/.386/.625 between Double A and Triple A, and cut his strikeout rate to 22 percent. He struck out 50 fewer times in 112 more plate appearances. It’s a funny thing, but when you always hit the ball hard, and then you start making a lot more contact, you get really good results, like hitting 41 homers to lead all of minor league baseball. The Royals did help Melendez with his mechanics as well; he’s always been a busy hitter, with a high leg kick and huge hip rotation, but he’s calmed the latter part down enough so he’s no longer overrotating and his timing on his leg kick is better. Coming into some of his strength has helped him develop a stronger base and stay more upright through contact as well. Couple the mechanical adjustments with a whole new plan at the plate and you get a premium offensive catcher with that cannon arm. He can still be too energetic behind the plate but has improved his receiving in the last two years; now it’s going to be his bat that carries him.

54. Nick Pratto, 1B, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 14 in 2017

Previous ranking: Unranked

Pratto came off a 2019 season where he hit .191/.278/.310 with nine homers and a 35 percent strikeout rate as a first baseman in High A, and the only thing keeping him from ex-prospect status was his youth. Two years and a swing overhaul later, Pratto is now very much a current prospect, hitting 36 homers in 2021 with a .383 OBP and an acceptable 29 percent strikeout rate, more than enough to have him profile as a potential everyday player right now. The Royals helped Pratto revamp his swing, eliminating some of the loop length that slowed his time to the ball and allowed him to drive the ball to the whole field instead of just his pull side. He has also vastly improved his awareness of the strike zone, part of the Royals’ system-wide overhaul of how they teach hitters to approach at-bats, although he can be too selective with pitches in the zone, and he’s always going to have some swing and miss in his game. He’s an above-average defender at first who should post high walk rates, helping him even if his batting averages aren’t great, and getting him to 25-30 homers a year.

90. Asa Lacy, LHP, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-4 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 4 in 2020

Previous ranking: 30

Lacy’s pro debut was a disaster: he walked 41 men in 52 innings, 17.3 percent of batters faced, before the Royals shut him down in late July to deal with a muscle injury in his shoulder; it didn’t require surgery but may explain the sudden loss of the strike zone. His stuff looked as good as ever, as he was up to 99, sitting mid to upper 90s, with a 55 to 60 slider and changeup that would show plus, with that last pitch good enough to give him a reverse platoon split. He looked better in the Arizona Fall League, with similar stuff and just one outing in four where he had control issues, but there’s still reasonable doubt whether he’ll return to the kind of control he showed as an amateur, when the Royals made him the No. 3 overall pick in 2020 (and he was good enough to merit discussion at No. 1). If he does, he’ll be a top-50 prospect again, maybe even top 20, with ace stuff from the left side and a big, durable build.

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IF there is baseball....
Oh, and Vinnie Pasquantino sounds like a mob enforcer!
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Originally Posted by gblowfish:
IF there is baseball....
Oh, and Vinnie Pasquantino sounds like a mob enforcer!

So does Frank Mozzicato!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Carlos Rodon...sign him Bart
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When you finally snap a curveball off right�� pic.twitter.com/Gu1B0DzkWg
— Asa Lacy (@The_Ace35) February 5, 2022

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Your attention please:@BwittJr hits ��s & kicks ��s pic.twitter.com/ciygogh2g6
— Jake Eisenberg (@JakeEisenberg_) February 4, 2022

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Keith Law's farm system rankings are posted at The Athletic. Frustratingly, the Dodgers sit atop of the rankings. Just think about that. The franchise that can most afford to say "screw the luxury tax" and outbid for whatever player they want is also the franchise that's most stocked with young talent.

That said, even with all our pitchers that graduated from the farm system last year, Law has us moving up from 15 to 7.

7. Kansas City Royals
Last year: No. 15

We are not talking about the seismic change in Kansas City’s offensive approach in the minors last year. It went from an 8.3 percent walk rate from hitters on its four full-season affiliates in 2019 to a 10.9 percent walk rate at those four levels last year – a jump of nearly a third. It’s the result of a top-down decision to change how the organization teaches hitters to approach at-bats, and it worked wonders. It may have saved the careers of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, it took Bobby Witt Jr. to the next level as a prospect, and it elevated several second-tier prospects to give them a chance to be regulars. The system’s weakness is now on the pitching side, in part the result of graduating so many arms to the majors in the last two years – the college pitchers they took with their first four picks in 2018 all lost rookie status in that period – but it began to replenish with two high-upside high school arms in the 2021 class. That change on the hitting side was long overdue, but its effects were immediate and are going to show up on the major-league roster this year.

EDIT: FWIW, we're the top AL Central farm system, with Cleveland right behind us at 8, Detroit at 12 and Minni at 18 and Chi at 30.
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Originally Posted by Ocotillo:

When you finally snap a curveball off right�� pic.twitter.com/Gu1B0DzkWg
— Asa Lacy (@The_Ace35) February 5, 2022

That's good. Maybe he won't suck ass this year.
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Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan:
Keith Law's farm system rankings are posted at The Athletic. Frustratingly, the Dodgers sit atop of the rankings. Just think about that. The franchise that can most afford to say "screw the luxury tax" and outbid for whatever player they want is also the franchise that's most stocked with young talent.

That said, even with all our pitchers that graduated from the farm system last year, Law has us moving up from 15 to 7.

7. Kansas City Royals
Last year: No. 15

We are not talking about the seismic change in Kansas City’s offensive approach in the minors last year. It went from an 8.3 percent walk rate from hitters on its four full-season affiliates in 2019 to a 10.9 percent walk rate at those four levels last year – a jump of nearly a third. It’s the result of a top-down decision to change how the organization teaches hitters to approach at-bats, and it worked wonders. It may have saved the careers of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, it took Bobby Witt Jr. to the next level as a prospect, and it elevated several second-tier prospects to give them a chance to be regulars. The system’s weakness is now on the pitching side, in part the result of graduating so many arms to the majors in the last two years – the college pitchers they took with their first four picks in 2018 all lost rookie status in that period – but it began to replenish with two high-upside high school arms in the 2021 class. That change on the hitting side was long overdue, but its effects were immediate and are going to show up on the major-league roster this year.

EDIT: FWIW, we're the top AL Central farm system, with Cleveland right behind us at 8, Detroit at 12 and Minni at 18 and Chi at 30.

This was the post I was duplicating. When you consider the 2018 pitchers in conjunction with this ranking, the future would appear to be bright...
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I'm excited for this coming season, the young kids should mesh well with the vet's.
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Trevor Bauer will not face any criminal charges in the LA court system, sources tell The Athletic. Bauer's active investigation by MLB remains open.
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) February 8, 2022

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