Kila Kaaihue
 

What do you know about this guy? I guess he's in AA and he's hit 25 home runs and is batting .310. He's leading his league in home runs, on base percentage, and and OPS. The guy already has 80 walks. I don't know where he came from. I didn't hear about him before this year. We are in need of a good first basement. The guy is 24 years old....when do you think he's up for a promotion?

I do believe he will come up in the September call-ups. Although the way he's been playing, he does deserve a chance to come up before September, IMHO.

Is his first name pronounced like "Killah". That'd be cool

That's be a hoot to hear the crowd chant "KILLAH!" when he steps in the box.

To play devil's advocate, this is his third straight year playing in Double A, so I wouldn't get too excited about his performance as he may have just figured out the league a bit.

However, I agree that he should get a shot in September call-ups, but considering Shealy can't get a chance over Gload, I'm not optimistic he will see many ABs.

Ya but Shealy has already been up and we know he sucks already. How long was Kila in AA though? I only could find his last year stats. Looked like he batted only like .251 with 20 or so homers

In 2006, Kila played 102 games in AA and had a line of 202/305/303 with just 6 HR.

In 2007, Kila played 70 games in AA and had a line of 246/359/447 with 12 HR.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/playe...-Kaaihue.shtml

Who knows, maybe he's another Aviles, but I'm not going to get too excited yet.

Also, I wouldn't say Shealy sucks, he only had one bad season and we're ready to completely give up on him? He's doing really good this year in Omaha, currently has an 888 OPS with 15 HR.

killaaaaa

Is Gload that bad? We took in our first game last night and he did alright but then again I haven't kept up with them the last year or two. It's been several years since we had been and we all had a good time at the K last night. Game was good and not a blow out. We will try and make another one before the year is over!

Just an FYI, they brought him up to Triple A Monday night. Dunno what that means for Shealy.

on his way outta KC organization

Gload isn't bad. He just doesn't hit enough to be an everyday player, it isn't even close to the production you should get out of a guy playing 1b

Sweet, I hadn't heard that. Maybe they are legitimately considering bringing him up in September.

Awesome, now we have two slugging 1st baseman in Omaha and zero in Kansas City.

Gload is a perfect bench player. He used to be a guy who could come in off the bench and hit .300 and pop 10 homers, which are good numbers. He's probably been exposed playing everyday though. I say let Kila hit AAA pitching for a while.

I would like to bring up up and get AB's to see what we have right now. I don't want to see anyone who isn't the future steal AB's

Haha, nice try buddy. Not falling for that. :)

I just want the guy to make it because of his name.

Falling for what? I would like to bring this guy up now. To replace gload to see what we have, gload has no place for the future. Lets see what he has up here. I do think it is ok to have him in AAA too. I am alittle annoyed when people are taking away time we could be evaluating players

i went to two springfield cardinals games a couple weeks ago, when they were playing the royals AA team. kaaihue hit a homer in the first game. in the second game, chris carpenter was pitching for springfield, and he pitched around him and walked him both times he was up, because he's scared of him.

he has a .464 OBP this year, 80 walks and 40 strikeouts. those are ridiculous numbers, even if it is only AA. hopefully this guy will be the royals starting first baseman by opening day next year.

in other news, did anyone notice that joey gathright's picture is on the omaha royals homepage? what does this mean?

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t541

kaaihue is hitting .381 with 3 HR and 6 RBI in 5 games since being called up to AAA.

What a beast. If Aviles keeps playing this way, Butler keeps developing and kaaihue turns out to be anything like he's showing in Omaha the Royals should be in good shape for a while.

Means nothing. It has been there since opening day.

I like this guy getting a callup in sept for brief action....

We need Gordon to start well next year.

The manager loves Ross Gload it's sad......Ross Gload and Mark Teahen shouldn't be on the same team, they're the same thing.

Agreed...i'd rather keep teahen on as a backup. I just have zero hope for him putting up the #'s during that run he had. He will be great as backup INF/OF on the team. Solid player overall for that position but yes, we have him and gload, no reason for it.

All I know about him is that an owner in one of my keeper leagues just added him to his roster, causing me to say, "Who the F*** is that?". I follow minor league baseball a bit but I'd never heard of him.

Hopefully he becomes our travis hafner....minus his current downslump...

Hafner came out of nowhere as well i believe

Kila played AA here in NW Arkansas for the Royals AA team (Naturals)...we have been in 1st place in our division in the Texas league this year...mainly because of our pitching and Kila. This guy can hit...he doesn't have the best avg. or speed, but he can hit. I saw him hit a grand slam about 2 weeks ago. Gotta love AA ball.

Kila was definitely a fan favorite here...we will miss him.

Here's the NW Arkansas Naturals website for more info..

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t1350

This is the Naturals first year in NW Arkansas...we lured them out of Witchita where they were formerly known as the Wranglers..

how are they the same? teahen is an awful hitter. gload, although he lacks power, is a decent hitter. teahen is an awful fielder. gload is a tremendous fielder. other than their skin color, i see no similarities whatsoever.

Im not convinced yet, but another Mike Aviles would be great on this team, especially one with pop.

I would have to disagree there. I remember for two straight years that I would hear on the broadcasts something to this effect. "We have thome now, but there is this kid hafner...wait until you see his power." Hafner tore up everything at every level

Nice story, except for the fact that you made it up. Thome's last year with Cleveland was in 2002, and Hafner was traded to Cleveland right before the 2003 season.

I came up with the Hafner comp on another board and think it's a pretty good one. Hafner didn't reach the majors until he was 25 years old and always had great strikezone discipline along with good HR power. He wasn't a regular with Cleveland until he was 26, and then he took off.

It looks like his average is a lot better in since he was called up to AAA ball since he's had fewer AB. He definitely has some pop in his bat.

I must be thinking of they HAD a void that thome left and they had hafner in the minors. Ryan Lefevre or Spill was talking about that earlier this year.

August 5, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Kaaihue Named July's Texas League Player of the Month
Departed slugger hit .400 on the month



Naturals slugger Kila Kaaihue was named as the Topps Texas League Player of the Month for August. Kaaihue, who was promoted last Tuesday to Triple-A Omaha, hit .314 with the Naturals with 26 homers and 79 RBI in 91 games.



In 24 Texas League games during the month of July, Kaaihue, the 24-year old Hawaii native, hit .400, with a .536 on-base percentage and a .788 slugging percentage. He walked 25 times, striking out just 12 times, scored 26 runs and drove in 31 during a month shortened by his promotion to Triple-A. This was the second time Kaaihue had hit .400 in a month-- he also did so in May.



In six games with Omaha, Kila is batting .375 with three homers and six runs driven in.



The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals have a toll-free ticket hotline (1-877-444-2637) for fans to purchase Naturals tickets. Our website also offers fans the opportunity to purchase tickets online and avoid lines at the ticket windows by printing their tickets at home or at the office.





-Naturals Baseball-

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/new...t=.jsp&c_id=kc

Kaaihue motoring through Minors
08/07/2008 4:30 PM ET
By Mark Dent / MLB.com

SPRINGDALE, Ark. -- Exhibit A of how truly unbelievable this season has been for Kila Kaaihue comes on a July night at Arvest Ballpark -- the home of Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Kaaihue steps up to the plate for the third time that night. He's currently at the Triple-A level in Omaha, but this scene occurred while he still played for the Naturals. Like always, the Arkansas Travelers put on the shift.

They fear the massive 6-foot-3-inch left-hander like Major League teams fear David Ortiz or Barry Bonds. The second baseman moves to shallow right field. The shortstop is positioned behind the bag at second base. They've heard the scouting reports -- he pulls almost everything -- and think this is the only way to stop him.

But they still can't. Kaaihue, a first baseman, hits a fly ball to the opposite field that bounces off the top of the nearly 10-foot wall for a double.

And that sums up this summer for Kaaihue: surprises everywhere. Whether it's the way he fooled the Travelers, or how he's come from almost nowhere and hit 26 home runs for the Naturals and four more in his first eight games for Omaha -- doing it all while batting above .300 and maintaining an on-base percentage around .400 because he walks so often.

"From an offensive standpoint, I don't think there's a player having that type of year," said J.J. Picollo, the Royals' director of scouting and development.

Kaaihue (pronounced ky-uh-hooey) grew up in Honolulu and learned about baseball from his dad, who played in the Minors. As he got older, Hawaiian ballplayers like Mike Fetters and Lenny Sakata helped fine-tune his game.

Now the only place to go is where Sakata and Fetters played: the Major Leagues. The Royals need power, and Kaaihue is surely providing that. But there's still plenty of skepticism. Other Kansas City busts have put up similar Minor League numbers, and Kaaihue, a 2002 15th-round Draft pick, has hit better than .259 in just one Minor League season prior to 2008.

Kaaihue knows this. He's aware of the doubters and Kansas City's decade-long power problem, and the infielder is confident he can handle another step up.

"When you're going good, you're always feeling good," Kaaihue said. "To have it going this long this season, there's just a feeling that something good is going to happen."

A little help

Eric Tokunaga already knew Kaaihue could throw. He saw him fire the ball 90-plus mph when he was a high school sophomore. But Tokunaga, then a part-time Royals scout, later realized that hitting might be Kaaihue's forte.

At a tournament in Waikiki, Kaaihue hit a home run as far as Tokunaga had ever seen. The ball went over the fence, out of the park and, finally, into the waters of the Ala Wai Canal. So much for pitching.

In 2002, Kaaihue's senior year of high school, the Royals ranked him third overall for raw power and snagged him in the 15th round. Kaaihue signed, forgoing a scholarship to Nebraska -- where he would've been Alex Gordon's teammate.

His father, Kala, recommended he go straight to the pros. Kala would know. He played Minor League ball for four teams, including a Pirates affiliate in the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders.

Kaaihue and his brother, Kala Jr., spent almost every day around the Islanders' clubhouse until the first baseman was 5. The players would spray water on them as a joke in the locker room and let them shag fly balls during batting practice, even though most of the balls landed on Kaaihue's wrist rather than in his glove.

"The best way I can compare it to is if your dad owned a business and you were supposed to take over the business," Kaaihue said. "We were at his work all the time, and I just kind of fell in love with it."

Kala never made it to the big leagues, instead finishing his career with the Islanders. But he had enough contacts with other Hawaiians who did play in the Majors.

Kaaihue met Fetters and Sakata through his dad, and from a young age received their guidance. It especially came in handy after he was drafted.

Back then, Kaaihue's raw power was just that, raw. Sakata started working with him in the offseason back in Honolulu, sometimes up to five days a week. They fine-tuned Kaaihue's swing by making it shorter, which has helped Kaaihue hit the ball to all fields and catch up to faster pitches.

His numbers show the difference. Other than 2006, when a torn patella in his right knee slowed his season, Kaaihue's power numbers and batting average have improved every year.

"What Lenny has given to me and Mike Fetters and others have given to me," Kaaihue said, "I couldn't pay them back. There's nothing I could do."

And then enters this season, where everything has gone right. Combining his time with the Triple-A Royals and Naturals, Kaaihue is hitting .322 with 30 home runs, 86 RBIs and 84 walks in 99 games. Those numbers jump out even more when you consider that Double-A teams usually gave him a maximum of one good pitch to hit in every at-bat.

Brian Poldberg, Northwest Arkansas' manager, saw Kaaihue's potential five years ago when he had a long, powerful swing. After managing him this summer, Poldberg has seen how all the work improved his swing and made him a more consistent hitter.

"The way he's going now," Poldberg said, "he could be a Major League first baseman."

Power hitter

Power captivates, but yet the Royals have lacked it for a long time.

Barring a miracle, this will be the 23rd straight season in which no Royals player has hit 36 or more home runs. In this millennium, only Jermaine Dye has hit 30 or more in a season.

Kansas City has 87 home runs on the season entering Friday, on pace for more than last season -- but still 11th in the American League. Trey Hillman often talks about how important it is to get some "slug" in the lineup, and he's right. The Royals are 37-19 when they hit at least one home run, and 16-43 when they don't.

If Kaaihue can bring the same swing to the next level, there's no telling how much he could help. Problem is, it's almost impossible to judge how a player's numbers will translate.

"The way he's going now, he could be a Major League first baseman."
-- Brian Poldberg, Double-A Northwest Arkansas' manager

Four years ago, a first baseman for the Omaha Royals hit .314 with 35 home runs, 79 RBIs and 70 walks -- numbers eerily similar to Kaaihue's. That was Calvin Pickering. He lasted a disappointing 42 games for Kansas City.

"Until guys get up here and play every day, we won't know," Picollo said.

But the signs are encouraging for Kaaihue. Longtime Omaha manager Mike Jirschele can't remember being this excited about a player in his first week with the team. He's already noticed Kaaihue is better than Pickering in at least two ways.

For one, Kaaihue doesn't strike out nearly as often. Pickering whiffed 85 times that season, while Kaaihue has just 47 strikeouts so far.

Another difference means more for Jirschele.

"I think one thing to look for is: Can a guy handle a fastball?" Jirschele said. "I noticed you could get Pickering out with a good fastball, and I don't see that with this guy. When I see him get a high fastball, he gets to it."

Someone else who could get those fastballs at the Triple-A level, Jirschele recalls, was Mike Aviles. Aviles has made a seamless transition at the Major League level, and was just named American League Player of the Week. He only got a shot in Kansas City because Tony Pena Jr. couldn't get his average above .200 and, even then, Hillman trotted out everyone else at shortstop before finally giving Aviles regular playing time.

The Royals won't know about Kaaihue until he gets the same opportunity.

"We have our feelings about how he'll do based on plate discipline and pitch recognition," Picollo said. "Guys like that who come up here will do the same type of things. The guy right now for us who did that is Mike Aviles. The big thing for Mike was to get up here and do it."

Big league dreams

The dreams started at age 15, and Kaaihue's slept with these thoughts in his head many times since then.

He's in the Major Leagues. Most of the time it's Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, anything in the pros.

A star pitcher waits on the mound for him as he walks up to the plate. Usually it's Roger Clemens. A booming voice announces his name, and the bright lights shine on him in the batter's box.

It's a possibility that Kaaihue could reach that point this year, as a September callup. But that won't be decided until much later this month, after the Royals have seen if Kaaihue can keep hitting the ball consistently at Triple-A.

Even if he does, Jirschele said the Royals might not want to rush Kaaihue too quickly. His swing is consistent, but he still needs work on hitting to all fields and going against lefties.

Kaaihue wants to make the Major Leagues badly, but he'll let the organization worry about if or when it will happen. He thinks his first game in the big leagues would be like the day he married his wife, Blair. It would be the best day of his life, and he'd be excited but scared.

For now, Kaaihue will just have to continue to dream about the Majors. How does that dream end, by the way?

Does Kaaihue hit a home run, a sign that the Royals have found their power hitter after so long and Kaaihue's accomplished his ultimate goal?

Well, the first baseman usually wakes up before then, his future still unknown.

"It ends with me waving at everybody," he said. "Just being there."

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

thank you for clearing that up.

Calvin Pickering... there is a name I had banished from my memories.

that is exactly what i've been thinking... fukcing pickering...

that's the only reason i'm not getting my hopes up

he was 3 years older, fatter, and struck out twice as much...

I think this kid probably will have a better shot

Kila hits his 6th homerun tonight in AAA....get this guy up soon!

Early favorite for 2009 ROY?

Now Cortes is the one I want to see from the farm system, he has the stuff to be a stud #1.

Calvin Pickering......he was supposed to be a power hitting 1B for the Orioles before the Royals. What ever happened to him?

There is a fine line between a guy who hit 30 homers in Triple A and a guy who hits .200 in the major leagues.

Kila hit another bomb today...that's 6 is just a couple of weeks. He went 1 for 3 in the first game, 0 for 1 in games 2 with two walks. I guess teams have already decided to pitch around him. He's going to force Dayton to call him up with his performance.

I sure hope so

If Kila could deliver in September, might be smarter than spending 12 million on a first baseman in the offseason.

what happened to calvin pickering? Well, this season he was playing for the T-Bones and they but him because he sucked for them as well... No joke

This guy could be KC's Albert Pujols.....

god i hope so.... but i'm still very, very skeptical.

we need a power bat on first base in the worst way for next season, though

Annnd, another one. #7. 2-3 with a walk, HR and 2 RBI's. The guy's OPS after 13 games is 1.3. For the season, he has 33 HRs, 90 BBs and 52 Ks. Goodness.

Who cares? We can't afford to have Gload or Teahen on the bench.

Give Hillman 25 Gload's and he can win some games.

Since it's only a couple weeks away, I'd give him a couple more weeks in Omaha and just make him another September call up. He's definitely earning it. Although without seeing the guy play, I'm afraid he'll get up here and get a weakness in his game exposed that he's not ready for yet. That stuff was probably a little more obvious with a guy like Calvin Pickering, though.

Bring my boy up!

Sick.

I'm not saying this is what's gonna happen, but sometimes people get way too excited over AAA stuff and want to rush guys to the majors when it's not the best move for anyone, team or player. I mean, hopefully he turns into another Aviles... but we let Aviles beat up on minor league pitching for a while. So there's no reason to rush him up a level while he's doing fine and we're not in a pennant race. Even to "see what we have." Although I think a Sept. callup is fine.

It's easy to forget stuff like this now... but there was a time where a 24 year old hitter with some pop named.... Ross Gload.... got moved up to AAA for the Cubs, and in his first month hit .404, 14 homers and posted a near 1.400 OPS before getting his first callup. Incredible numbers.

Good god, that story made me puke, who the hell knew Gload was a beast back in the day

Lets hope our own Hawaiin Punch is different for a damn change

Haha. Hawaiian Punch. That is going to be his nickname...Sure-Oz called it. You see all those Mexicutioner shirts going around? Well you should get the rights to the Hawaiian Punch ones when he comes up and starts his one man wrecking crew

Wow, I never had heard that. While I get your point, that was over a space of 28 games. Kila has been doing this all season. I say he gets a shot in spring training. At the very least, maybe it allows us to spend money on a SS instead of a 1B this offseason.

Is Moustakas still going to play short in a couple years when we bring him up. I know it's early to talk about that, but for a 18-19 year old kid he's seen vast improvement this year in A ball. He's now hitting about .270 with 20 jacks. Not to long ago he was batting .230....he probably just needed to learn how to hit with a wooden bat.

http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/173

A growing (and moving?) Moose
Could be a busy week around this blog.

Got a couple interviews ready to roll (including one done by commenter request), a Gil Meche stat that might surprise you, and we probably need to get to Zack Greinke: bad@%*.

And before we begin today, there are these two facts to digest about Tony Pena Jr: He has never given up a baserunner as a relief pitcher, and he is batting 1.000 with a walk-off single as a designated hitter.

Maybe he was just miscast as a shortstop.

Anyway, a look below the big leagues shows that Mike Moustakas went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs on Saturday, and is now 13-for-32 with five homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs in his last eight games.

That follows the season long trend for the Royals' No. 2 overall pick from last year. He was terrible in April and has been spectacular since. He hit .303 in July, is hitting .378 in August, and in 40 games since the All-Star break, has more homers (11 to 9), more doubles (11 to 10), and the same amount number of RBIs (31) and walks (17) that he did in 66 games before.

His OPS has gone from .671 over those first 66 games to 1.317 in the last 40.

Even during those early struggles, the thinking I heard from the Royals' front office was that Moose was an LA kid not used to the cold weather, and also a high school draft pick adjusting to pro ball and all those struggles were expected.

All that made sense, but there is still some natural skepticism. As much as some people rightly downplay the importance of minor league stats, it's reassuring to see Moose on this run.

It's also reassuring to hear from a scout who saw him play recently.

"I like the (bleep) out of him," he says. "His body has gotten a little soft, but this guy has a great swing."

The scout says Moose's swing is geared toward left-center (opposite field), but during BP, when the pitches come down and in, "he'll crush every one of them like 500 feet."

"He's a better hitting prospect than Alex Gordon, no doubt about it," the scout says. "Better swing."

Moose was recently moved to third base when the Royals acquired Juan Rivera from the Dodgers ("Rivera is terrible, the Royals must've really wanted to get rid of Berroa") and might be in for another position change.

Apparently he's gaining a little weight in the middle, around his abs and hips, and might grow into playing catcher. Moose has the arm (mid-90s as a reliever in high school), and Royals executives have always raved about his natural leadership and baseball smarts.

The idea of moving to catcher is something that's been projected since even before last year's draft.

I've talked to some other people who follow Moustakas closely and they say the weight gain is nothing to be alarmed at. They say he's not getting fat, just that it's the natural path for the guy's body type, that he's not losing mobility with his swing, just filling out has he gets bigger and stronger.

There are two trains of thought with the move to catcher, neither has as much to do with Moose specifically as it does just a general philosophy.

It's either a great thing to have a premium bat at a premium position, or a terrible idea to devalue a potential three-hole hitter by giving his body the extra grind of catching.

He also has good enough hands that I've heard scouts say he's a potential Gold Glover at first base.

"Some guys are built to gain weight in the middle," the scout says. "He looks nothing like when I saw him last year. He's thicker in that area. He almost looks soft, but not quite.

"But I'll tell you this. He's the best prospect in that whole league, no doubt. He's got a beautiful swing. He's 19, so in three years, that guy's going to be really, really good.

"He works his (butt) off and has a great attitude, like what you want all your top prospects to have.

"But they've got to let him play out, the whole process. They started Gordon at double-A and moved him up because they had to, but this guy needs to play the whole thing and learn the game and be a ballplayer."

Submitted by Sam Mellinger on August 11, 2008 - 7:23am.
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He already moved to third, and now it is between third and RF for where he plays.

Maybe. Read the text I posted from the Royals blog.

Eh, I don't really see anything in the article suggesting anyone in the Royals organization is thinking along the same lines as him. Just some speculating on his part and some pretty poor reasoning as well. Teams don't move their best players to catchers just because it's a premium position.

Scouts were talking about this prior to the draft, and this is what the reporter is obviously suggesting. Also, there was much speculation that he'd ultimately end up at first. Again, from pre-draft scouting reports.

Kila clubbed another homer last night. Make that 7 here in Omaha

They should have just drafted Matt Weiters if they wanted a catcher. I don't think that Moustakas will end up being switched there. The OF is far more likely.

Yes. Here is the reason that I doubt what this guy is saying and I think he has just largely made up the article: why doesn't he quote his scout friend if this seems like such a logical move? He is already asking him about what he thinks of his hitting, why not ask about what you are writing the article about? My guess is he asked him, and the scout laughed him out of the room. I can't find a single draft source that has mentioned Moose going to catcher. Not from baseball prospectus, not from Baseball America, and if neither one of those mentioned it, I'm going to have a hard time believing it to be true. I need something more concrete than "some scouts said", which could be entirely made up and no one would know.

Agreed. Supposedly he has a cannon. I could see him taking over for Guillen at the end of his contract.

Here's one reason why there was some pre-draft speculation about where Moosetacos would end up playing.

http://www.royalmania.com/news.php?extend.105

Last August at the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Moustakas moved from shortstop to third base to catcher, and while he showed some promise at the plate, there was not a consensus he'd hit enough to profile as an everyday player at a corner infield position. Because of the depth of high school hitters in Southern California's Class of 2007, Moustakas entered the spring without a distinct designation as one of the country's elite prospects. He was even considered his team's second-best player, behind third baseman Matt Dominguez.

All along, Moustakas was quietly confident, and this spring the masses began to concur.

There was definitely some speculation before the draft that Moose could move to catcher in pro ball. Just google Moustakas + catcher and you will see some publications that mention it. However, I would prefer he stays at 3rd base or gets moved to RF instead of catcher, as I think his bat is truly special and I don't want to risk him wearing down too quickly. Catcher is such a demanding position, some guys can handle it and some can't.

Mmmmmm...... Moosetacos.................

Looks like Kila is on the big league roster and perhaps will play tonight. Let the great hawiaan hope begin.

He has been on the roster for 3 games now, and didn't even play in the 2nd game of the doubleheader. I'll kill Hillman if he makes him the next Justin Huber....

He pinch RAN last night and we failed to get him his 1st AB with 1 guy to go...

He supposedly was supposed to play game 2 but didn't...

He is starting tonight at 1b and batting 9th.....(our best power guy in the minors this year, love it...)

Nice pop-out