| SithCeNtZ |
04-04-2025 12:47 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
(Post 18019517)
I don’t think I agree with any one approach te ding to produce AAAA players, Royals are otherwise.
Guys who fall into that category typically are guys who have a fatal flaw or two that major leaguers can exploit at high levels of consistency, but players in the minors cannot.
A pitcher who can’t throw his breakers for strikes, ever.
A hitter who can’t handle a specific location or a specific pitch in a location. Etc.
The minor leagues are filled with them, because baseball is really, really hard.
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I'm going to have to disagree significantly n regards to hitting. Pitching is another thing entirely so I won't go into that here, but hitting we absolutely do.
The Royals have always prioritized defense and athleticism over anything else with picks not high in the first round, of which those players are usually 5 tool guys anyway. Get beyond that and let me tell you the story of nearly every single guy we draft: "good to great defense, athletic, could play multiple positions, could hit for solid average, hope to develop power". And when your strongest traits are defense and athleticism, those generally don't fall off when being promoted. So we promote guys with a nice defensive floor and we just hope they can figure out hitting, which leads to tons and tons of how we talk about Kyle Isabel right now: "well if he could just hit more then..."
The royals best OF Non-high first rounder prospect listed on MLB top 30 is, wait for it, a second round light hitting OF who is called "defense first" player(Roccaforte). I'm shocked. Tylor Gentry who we just called up: "one of the best arms in the system and above average fielder. Needs to find more consistency at the plate". Javier Vaz: "plus runner good defender. Zero power good contact hitter". It goes on and on.
You know what you almost never see? Offense first guys. "This guy can hit but can't defend" guys. Those guys are much more likely to bust in AA because their single skill can be stopped there. And we simply don't draft those kinds of hitters. So we never run out of these fringe guys who play good defense and if you squint you can see a serviceable player. That's why the Royals absolutely have more fringe utility players than other teams and why our minor league system is usually referred to as "deep but lacking star power" aka we have a bunch of possible utility guys who aren't terrible but can't hit enough to be a star most likely. |
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