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.
Originally Posted by tk13:
I really think if people wanted to spend money we should have kept Dayton. If Sherman is going to run this team like Tampa and Cleveland the days of Ian Kennedy or Gil Meche contracts might be over. There was already an article on Royals Review today on how the Royals are boring now. It blew my mind. This is what everyone wanted for us to be a ruthlessly analytical team and it looks like that's what might be happening. It hasn't even been one offseason and people are getting tired of it. It might be time to start taking bets on the first article where someone longs for Dayton because he understood the KC sports market.
For me the real test is if they re-sign any of the guys they develop. Won't be able to afford them all but if they're investing long term in some of the guys they're developing like Vinny or MJ or Singer then all this will be worth it. Jury is out on that though. If they won't do that we're in trouble.
All of this. We got what most people think an extremely young talented core of players. They showed glimpses of it last year with a complete moron managing the team and even more idiot as pitching coach. We got to find out which of these young players are the true core and then fill in the holes from there.
Brandon Drury is a guy who has had only 2 seasons over 1 WAR in his career. The rest have been negative. Price was right but he isn't some long term solution at third base.
I think 3rd and RF both have holes but we have players to fill those spots. But that is also our first two draft picks from last year's draft.
I would have liked Manea for the price he got, but if our pitching guys who are from Tampa and Cleveland like a guy I'll take their word for it for now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tk13:
I really think if people wanted to spend money we should have kept Dayton. If Sherman is going to run this team like Tampa and Cleveland the days of Ian Kennedy or Gil Meche contracts might be over. There was already an article on Royals Review today on how the Royals are boring now. It blew my mind. This is what everyone wanted for us to be a ruthlessly analytical team and it looks like that's what might be happening. It hasn't even been one offseason and people are getting tired of it. It might be time to start taking bets on the first article where someone longs for Dayton because he understood the KC sports market.
For me the real test is if they re-sign any of the guys they develop. Won't be able to afford them all but if they're investing long term in some of the guys they're developing like Vinny or MJ or Singer then all this will be worth it. Jury is out on that though. If they won't do that we're in trouble.
With me there are levels to each thing, we literally have a blackhole at 3rd base until a guy that they just drafted makes it so your talking 2-3 years provided he works out.
I don't think they need to spend money to spend money or try to be the Mets or something like that. I would just like some moves that make sense...bringing back guys like O'Hearn, Keller, Dozier makes no sense to me...matter of fact Scott Barlow and Michael Taylor should be traded also.
I'm sure there will be some disagreement here but I think it would have made more sense to cut bait on someone like Dozier who has no value to the team.
I'd have been looking to do something like this going into next year..
C Perez/Melendez with Perez seeing a lot of DH at bats and them splitting catching almost 50/50.
1B Vinnie/Pratto with Pratto also getting OF time and Vinnie getting some DH time.
2B Massey
3B I'd have gone after Drury here as we have nothing
SS Witt
Nicky Lopez comes in as your utility backup infielder
RF Mondesi, this guy needs to be an OF if you ever wanna see him be anything
Then round this out, I actually like Nate Eaton as a utility guy.
As far as pitching goes I get that they have a ton of young pitchers but the idea all of them figure it out is 0. Odds say you'll get 1 good starter, an ok starter, a couple of relievers and some trash.
If I were to start to list how I think that plays out it's obviously guessing and may rub some people the wrong way but it is what it is. But here goes
Singer, I think he ends up a mid rotation starter like a 3.
Bubic-trash
Lynch-reliever
Kowar-reliever
Alec Marsh-this one is interesting I think he either ends up as a + starter or a closer, he's one of the few guys who has ++ stuff.
Bowlan-I think Bowlan is the guy most likely to be a + starter out of the entire group.
Carlos Hernandez-reliever, another guy who probably has closer potential
Angel Zerpa-probably a 5 starter
Heasley-reliever, probably long relief type of stuff
I actually gave the Royals 3 starters possibly 4 out of this which is really nice, but odds are Marsh ends up a back end reliever and Zerpa is a fringe starter.
With that said I'm not sure how with this group you aren't in on some guys who got pretty fair deals like Manaea and Ross Stripling or how you aren't in on Eovoldi.
While you aren't a contender you also don't want your team of young players to get ass raped either. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
With me there are levels to each thing, we literally have a blackhole at 3rd base until a guy that they just drafted makes it so your talking 2-3 years provided he works out.
I don't think they need to spend money to spend money or try to be the Mets or something like that. I would just like some moves that make sense...bringing back guys like O'Hearn, Keller, Dozier makes no sense to me...matter of fact Scott Barlow and Michael Taylor should be traded also.
I'm sure there will be some disagreement here but I think it would have made more sense to cut bait on someone like Dozier who has no value to the team.
I'd have been looking to do something like this going into next year..
C Perez/Melendez with Perez seeing a lot of DH at bats and them splitting catching almost 50/50.
1B Vinnie/Pratto with Pratto also getting OF time and Vinnie getting some DH time.
2B Massey
3B I'd have gone after Drury here as we have nothing
SS Witt
Nicky Lopez comes in as your utility backup infielder
RF Mondesi, this guy needs to be an OF if you ever wanna see him be anything
Then round this out, I actually like Nate Eaton as a utility guy.
As far as pitching goes I get that they have a ton of young pitchers but the idea all of them figure it out is 0. Odds say you'll get 1 good starter, an ok starter, a couple of relievers and some trash.
If I were to start to list how I think that plays out it's obviously guessing and may rub some people the wrong way but it is what it is. But here goes
Singer, I think he ends up a mid rotation starter like a 3.
Bubic-trash
Lynch-reliever
Kowar-reliever
Alec Marsh-this one is interesting I think he either ends up as a + starter or a closer, he's one of the few guys who has ++ stuff.
Bowlan-I think Bowlan is the guy most likely to be a + starter out of the entire group.
Carlos Hernandez-reliever, another guy who probably has closer potential
Angel Zerpa-probably a 5 starter
Heasley-reliever, probably long relief type of stuff
I actually gave the Royals 3 starters possibly 4 out of this which is really nice, but odds are Marsh ends up a back end reliever and Zerpa is a fringe starter.
With that said I'm not sure how with this group you aren't in on some guys who got pretty fair deals like Manaea and Ross Stripling or how you aren't in on Eovoldi.
While you aren't a contender you also don't want your team of young players to get ass raped either.
You think Brady Singer is going to be a 3? I think you just like being a pessimistic bitch and want to complain. Brady Singer only started 24 games and if he would have actually gotten 34 starts like he should have then his pace as a starter would have put him at
210 innings, 2.85 ERA, 204 Strikeouts, 1.119 WHIP. He had a 4.5 WAR, which was 6th among AL pitchers and if he would have had a full seasons worth of starts, then he's at 6.4 WAR which would tie him for the lead in the AL and tied for 2nd in the majors. Brady is an ace and has had a better season than Ventura ever had. He will be the best pitcher ever brought up through the Dayton Moore system. He's a stud [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
You think Brady Singer is going to be a 3? I think you just like being a pessimistic bitch and want to complain. Brady Singer only started 24 games and if he would have actually gotten 34 starts like he should have then his pace as a starter would have put him at
210 innings, 2.85 ERA, 204 Strikeouts, 1.119 WHIP. He had a 4.5 WAR, which was 6th among AL pitchers and if he would have had a full seasons worth of starts, then he's at 6.4 WAR which would tie him for the lead in the AL and tied for 2nd in the majors. Brady is an ace and has had a better season than Ventura ever had. He will be the best pitcher ever brought up through the Dayton Moore system. He's a stud
Singer has some peripheral's that make it look like he got a bit lucky over the course of the year. He could be better or worse so I'm hedging a bit on that. It was also 1 season, there isn't a long track record either so once again I'm just plopping him right in the middle because I have no real way of knowing. [Reply]
I don't think personally and I really don't think the Royals do either that MJ Melendez is the Royals future catcher. I think its going to be Carter Jensen. Salvy's playing time line pretty much lines up perfect with his callup timeline IMO.
An offseason of learning how to play the outfield with Rusty Kuntz will do wonders for him. [Reply]
I am looking forward to a more modern approach for coaching our catchers. Having improvement in pitch framing would be a boon for our pitchers. Our pitchers recieved the worst umpiring of any team last year according to umpire scorecards, and by far. Also, our team received the worst overall umpiring.
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
I don't think personally and I really don't think the Royals do either that MJ Melendez is the Royals future catcher. I think its going to be Carter Jensen. Salvy's playing time line pretty much lines up perfect with his callup timeline IMO.
An offseason of learning how to play the outfield with Rusty Kuntz will do wonders for him.
This is the correct take. I've been thinking this about Jensen since the end of the season. I hope he continues to advance. I just wish MJ could have adapted to 3B. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
I don't think personally and I really don't think the Royals do either that MJ Melendez is the Royals future catcher. I think its going to be Carter Jensen. Salvy's playing time line pretty much lines up perfect with his callup timeline IMO.
An offseason of learning how to play the outfield with Rusty Kuntz will do wonders for him.
Maybe that's true and even if it is, Perez is a much better offensive player when he doesn't catch all the time. Even if Melendez isn't the future of the position he needs a lot of playing time and Salvy needs less innings behind the plate. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nightfyre:
I am looking forward to a more modern approach for coaching our catchers. Having improvement in pitch framing would be a boon for our pitchers. Our pitchers recieved the worst umpiring of any team last year according to umpire scorecards, and by far. Also, our team received the worst overall umpiring.
I cannot believe we're actually talking about pitch framing as a development need...that catchers need to be better about faking a ball for a strike...or helping the umpire to do his job by making a true strike more obvious to an umpire that simply can't make the correct call. Focusing on pitch framing is short-sighted, IMO. I'm fairly certain that robo-umps are coming...and I welcome it. Pitch framing is one of the stupidest developments of the modern game and I'm ready for that conversation to end so that we can simply get true strikes and balls. I will admit that - to this point - it has been a smart tactic based upon wildly inconsistent umpiring behind the plate...whether it's because they just suck or the pitching has just become so filthy that umpires can't make accurate calls anymore. It's just bad for baseball. [Reply]
The Giants may have a hard time ever attracting another top Free Agent..
Supposedly they got cold feet over Correa's angle that hasn't been an issue since 2014...
Among the details from Verducci here: Correa had *already gotten dressed for the press conference* yesterday when he learned it wasn't happening!
Scott Boras says Carlos Correa's parents, brother, wife, and parents-in-law were at the hotel in San Francisco when they found out his press conference was postponed.
Originally Posted by Mecca:
Maybe that's true and even if it is, Perez is a much better offensive player when he doesn't catch all the time. Even if Melendez isn't the future of the position he needs a lot of playing time and Salvy needs less innings behind the plate.
The scuttlebutt is that the Royals are looking for a competent, veteran catcher. I'm guessing this is so that Salvy can DH 2-3 times a week. It's doubtful that a
guy like Luca Tresh would be ready this season, but I would prefer a younger guy. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nightfyre:
I am looking forward to a more modern approach for coaching our catchers. Having improvement in pitch framing would be a boon for our pitchers. Our pitchers recieved the worst umpiring of any team last year according to umpire scorecards, and by far. Also, our team received the worst overall umpiring.
