Royals ***Official 2022 Royals Season Repository Thread*** - Page 22

Originally Posted by poolboy:
am I the only one that doesnt get all the hype with Pratto?
can somebody mansplain it to me?

I’m a little leery of all the massive jumps last year but his in particular for some reason. I’m just trusting the people that have seen him more than the couple of times I’ve watched him in the minors. I know he was on the bust path not too long ago, so we’ll see. I don’t know why I have this fear of him being Mark Teahan, I just do.
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Originally Posted by Archie Bunker:
I’m a little leery of all the massive jumps last year but his in particular for some reason. I’m just trusting the people that have seen him more than the couple of times I’ve watched him in the minors. I know he was on the bust path not too long ago, so we’ll see. I don’t know why I have this fear of him being Mark Teahan, I just do.

He really just had one bad year in high A. If that year were in any way a pattern of a bust, he would not have dominated the upper minors like he did. If anything, he returned to form prior to high A. MLB is another thing entirely...so we will see if he can make that jump. His swing development last year was fun to see.
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Originally Posted by poolboy:
am I the only one that doesnt get all the hype with Pratto?
can somebody mansplain it to me?

If you have an Athletic sub, it's worth finding Alec Lewis' breakdown of the changes in the Royals hitting development process over the past 2 years. Basically, they changed everything about their hitting development process, and part of that was helping Pratto and Melendez completely change their swings and approaches.

He's an excellent-defending 1B, so you're plus defensively. Pair that with a good feel for the strike zone, an improved plan at the plate, good raw power and quick hands that allow him to make a lot of loud contact, and you have a very nice prospect.
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Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers. One of my current favorites.
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Originally Posted by arrowheadnation:
If you're a Sprint/Tmobile customer, you get MLB.tv for free. Just use a VPN and you can watch the Royals.

Also, time to dust this baby off. One of the best stadium give-away shirts ever.

I will buy your shirt, if it is a Large. Serious.
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Originally Posted by poolboy:
am I the only one that doesnt get all the hype with Pratto?
can somebody mansplain it to me?

Hes a whiff king. Tons of strike outs. For some reason despite his athletic profile cant play any other position than 1B. Has the lowest hit tool out of any of our top prospects.
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Although the Royals signed starter Zack Greinke yesterday, they remain in pursuit of A’s RHP Frankie Montas, a source tells The Athletic.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) March 17, 2022

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Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:

Although the Royals signed starter Zack Greinke yesterday, they remain in pursuit of A’s RHP Frankie Montas, a source tells The Athletic.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) March 17, 2022

Bean will exact something painful for this.
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Originally Posted by poolboy:
am I the only one that doesnt get all the hype with Pratto?
can somebody mansplain it to me?

FG:

A swing and approach change unlocked huge in-game power for Pratto, who also has a good idea of the zone and is a great first base defender.

There were pro scouts who didn’t even consider Pratto a prospect after they watched him hit .190 and strike out 35% of the time in Wilmington in 2019. First basemen, even ones like Pratto with a bevy of secondary skills, don’t have the luxury of whiffing that often and still becoming big leaguers because the offensive bar at the position is too high. But Pratto has altered his swing (most notably, his stance is open and he has a leg kick now) and had a huge 2021 spring, so consistently punishing fastballs at the top of the zone with power during the co-op period between big league and minor league spring training that he was intentionally walked at one point in what is understood to be a non-competitive, developmental setting.

Pratto’s swing has bad intentions. He collapses his back side to create lift and just swings as hard as he can at fastballs he can pull, selling out for power. It’s very similar to Shohei Ohtani‘s swing mechanics, and this is a rare instance where we’re projecting a player to out-hit their raw power grade even though their hit tool grade is below average. Pratto has always had a good feel for the zone and his ability to pick out pitches he can drive is quite good, so we like his chances of continuing to tattoo fastballs at the top of the zone, though we also think he is still really vulnerable to back-foot breaking stuff and anything running away from him with this swing. He hit 36 homers between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha in 2021 but also struck out in almost 30% of his plate appearances. There aren’t any first basemen who even strike out at least 25% of the time and still become what we would define as a 50 FV. Qualified first basement since 2015 with more than a 25% strikeout rate include Lucas Duda, Matt Adams, Chris Davis, Brandon Moss, Eric Thames 테임즈, Miguel Sanó, Mike Napoli, Pedro Alvarez — you get the idea.

We had internal disagreement about Pratto being on here (opponents wanted him 45’d), but there was overwhelming industry support for his inclusion because the damage he does when he makes contact is elite, described to us as among the top 5% in baseball. Pratto is an above-average hands and feet athlete at first base and he has a plus arm. He played three games in right field in 2021 and we think he has the feel and athleticism to play out there situationally, especially with so many corner thumpers occupying Royals 40-man and upper-level roster space. We’re hoping that because Pratto was already able to make huge, career-saving adjustments, that he’ll continue to do so and make enough contact to support an average everyday first base profile.
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Originally Posted by gblowfish:
Love having Zack Nebraska back. He may not be Cy Young anymore, but he's entertaining as HELL to watch. Love it!

Royals interviews just got interesting again....:-)
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Originally Posted by gblowfish:
Love having Zack Nebraska back. He may not be Cy Young anymore, but he's entertaining as HELL to watch. Love it!

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Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers. One of my current favorites.

What a lineup they have now.

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MLB Pipeline with their new top 100 and Bobby Witt is ranked as the #1 prospect in baseball.

Top �� time!

Led by a new No. 1, here's the 2022 Top 100 Prospects list: https://t.co/spbUFYgxbI pic.twitter.com/sBcHZ8zmMz
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 18, 2022

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Dodger sign Danny Duffy

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...agreement.html
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Look at this gorgeous lineup. pic.twitter.com/7KZRhhJ3pg
— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) March 18, 2022

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