2014 Royals Repository

[duncan_idaho]

With my 6,000th post on ChiefsPlanet (it only took me 12 years to get here), I bring you: The 2014 Kansas City Royals Repository.

To be discussed here: All things Royals, as they attempt to post another winning season and make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

25-man RosterAvailable HERE

AL Central Standings:

Link

Duncan's Top 20 Royals Prospects

Spoiler!

1) 3B Hunter Dozier ETA: 2015
Dozier started slowly at A+ Wilmington but caught fire in May and June, earning a mid-season promotion to AA Northwest Arkansas. Big, strong kid with good plate discipline skills and solid power who projects to be an above-average glove at 3B with solid power.

2) SS Raul (Adalberto) Mondesi ETA: 2017
Mondesis is the opposite of Dozier…. Started red-hot at Wilmington before back spasms derailed him for a few weeks and hasn’t gotten it going since coming back. Scouting reports have been great – defense and speed both improved over the offseason. Still a chance to be an elite SS, with 40 SB speed, plus glove, .300 average and some pop.

3) LHP Sean Manaea | ETA: 2015
Scouting reports outperform the stat line so far. Missing a ton of bats at A+ but not preventing runs like you’d expect to see. Needs to work deeper into games (gradually working about an inning deeper/month so far this year) and improve control. Walks are biggest concern right now, but could be elevated due to work on extra off-speed offerings. Still has No. 2 starter potential, could be higher if the great control he exhibited before his hip surgery eventually comes back.

4) RHP Kyle Zimmer| ETA: 2015
Should be NO. 1 on the list and is probably the Royals most VALUABLE current prospect, but he hasn’t thrown a ball in 4-5 weeks and had only been throwing for 2-3 weeks when he was shut down then.

5) LHP Brandon Finnegan| ETA: 2015
Top 2014 draft choice is an undersized lefty who will start at A+ Wilmington after anchoring CWS run for TCU. Good fastball, better slider, change that needs work to stick as a starter, but if he sticks, No. 2/No. 3 starter upside. Likely a top 10 or even top 5 pick if he doesn’t miss 1 start in the middle of the college season as a precautionary move.

6) RHP Miguel Almonte| ETA: 2016
Have heard some say Almonte is more advanced as a pitcher at A+ than Yordano Ventura was (comparison because both were cheap signs out of Latin America). Really advanced changeup and a curve that is working out well (where the ‘more advanced’ comment comes from). Fastball velo is good but not great – 92-94. Like Manaea, working on his second-best offspeed pitch and leaning less on his bread-and butter (changeup), which has hurt his numbers a bit.

7) RHP Christian Binford 2017
Reverse case of “don’t just scout stat lines.” Based on his stats at A+, you’d think he was an elite prospect, but there are questions about Binford’s stuff playing up at higher levels. Tall righty with great command of fastball, slider and a good and still developing changeup. None of those pitches profiles as better than average, though, limiting his likely upside to back-end rotation guy.

8) SS Orlando Calixte| ETA: 2016
I still like him more than many. Good combination of SS/MI skills and power. Started hot at NWA but in a slump at moment.

9)LHP Foster Griffin | ETA: 2019
Tall, projectable lefty taken in 2014 draft. Viewed as a great value in the sandwich round and probably would have been KC’s pick at No. 17 if Finnegan hadn’t fallen. High school arm who is going to take a while to develop.

10) RF Jorge Bonifacio| ETA: 2016
Hasn’t hit as well as expected in his second go-round at AA NWA. Power still sapped, and average skills have dipped. Once looked like he might be an option in RF at some point in 2015, now looks like 2016 is optimistic. Still young for his level.

11) 3B/2B Cheslor Cuthbert| ETA: 2016
Cuthbert has had better luck at NWA than Boni and is also extremely young for level. HE’s been moved to 2B since Dozier was promoted, which could put a new spin on Cuthbert’s prospects. If he sticks at 2B, bat plays up much better. Good OBP/plate discipline and solid power, but needs to continue improving contact skills

12) C Chase Vallot| ETA: 2020
Young (just 17) C with tremendous power. One of the top prep bats and a great value for KC where it got him. If he sticks at C, expect him to move slowly, but the bat may force the issue (or force him to another position).

13) C Zane Evans| ETA: 2017
GA Tech product has handled Wilmington better than most RH bats and probably is in line for a promotion to NWA sometime soon. Decent pop, decent skills behind the plate. Could be a nice reserve catcher.

14) RHP Scott Blewett| ETA: 2020
Tall, projectable righty with a fresh arm but some injury concerns on his shoulder that slipped him out of Round 1 of MLB draft. Big time potential.

15) CF Bubba Starling | ETA:
Bubba Starling has great tools. Bubba Starling (still) can’t hit. That’s all I have to say about that.

16) 1B Samir Duenez| ETA:
I still like him, even though the attempt to run him through full season ball at 17 did not go well.

17)LF/RF Elier Hernandez| ETA:
Hernandez still pops up in scouting reports but still is very raw and toolsy.

18) RHP Pedro Fernandez| ETA:
Pop-up player on the same track as Ventura and Almonte. Similar signing, similar profile. One to watch over next few years.

19) SS Marten Gasparini| ETA:
Royals’ most expensive international signing likely moves to CF eventually, but his speed and athleticism are intriguing abilities. Early reports from complex ball are very positive on him.

20) RHP Niklas Stephenson| ETA:
Interesting pop-up candidate who found 10 more MPH on his fastball by using a weighted ball during workouts over the winter. Now sits mid-90s with fastball and is dominating at rookie ball (after having an ERA over 8 there a year ago). Likely promoted to a higher challenge soon.

[SPATCH]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

Oh dear baby Jesus in your golden Pampers PLEASE let Moose do this all season.

And now I think it's time to put pride aside, put your balls to the wall, and get it done with Santana. Do that, and I think we're the favorite in the AL Central.

**** you for saying this

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by chefsos

I guess you held 'em to a FG the other day...Pretty stout defense.

I saw this on TV the other night. Channel 5 sports is ultra lame.

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by chefsos

I guess you held 'em to a FG the other day...Pretty stout defense.

This is exactly why we can't win a playoff game. The Royals have a better D than the Chiefs.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I saw this on TV the other night. Channel 5 sports is ultra lame.

Channel 5 in general is ultra lame.

[SPchief]

Rosenthal reporting that Santana is considering switching agents.

[alnorth]

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 11m

Sources: Free-agent RHP Ervin Santana considering a change of agents. Currently represented by Bean Stringfellow of Proformance.

interesting

[gblowfish]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Rosenthal reporting that Santana is considering switching agents.

Heh....yeah, blame the agent...

[SPchief]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Heh....yeah, blame the agent...

In this case, he can. This move if it happens indicates to me that Santana is willing to play on a 1 or 2 year deal while his current agent is balking at every team and willing to wait until June to POSSIBLY get a long term deal.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Heh....yeah, blame the agent...

He can do that because it IS the agents fault.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Sure-Oz]

His agent screwed him over with that 100 mill starting spot

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Heh....yeah, blame the agent...

At this point he probably would have been willing to take Vargas's deal. His agent hilariously misjudged his value, and compounded that by acting like an unprofessional fool on twitter.

[SPchief]

Originally Posted by alnorth

At this point he probably would have been willing to take Vargas's deal. His agent hilariously misjudged his value, and compounded that by acting like an unprofessional fool on twitter.

Heh, I didn't even factor in the twitter episode in my last post. I can imagine Santana going to his agent and asking where things stand. And his agent is just saying, don't worry, wait it out, we'll get you that $100 million. And Santana just looking at common sense knowing it's not there anymore.

[alnorth]

Another study measuring catcher defense was put out by baseball prospectus, and the results are kinda startling and confirm earlier studies trying to measure the same thing.

Framing and Blocking Pitches: A Regressed, Probabilistic Model

The math is very dense, and they had to account for the fact that some elite pitchers can get favorable calls from the umpire no matter who they are throwing to, and some umpires come with wacky strike zones anyway, all of which is very hard to do.

They have concluded that catchers can have a really huge impact on the strike zone. The best defensive catchers can add a staggering 2 full WAR from just their pitch framing alone, and the worst defensive catchers lose more than a full WAR from their bad defense. This is probably not being priced in correctly in the free agent market.

This looks like one of those rare moments where the conventional wisdom from the old-timers was not just confirmed, if anything catcher defense is probably even more important than the old-school guys were already giving it credit for.

edit: here's a 1-paragraph summary

We will freely admit: If you haven't seen the results of previous framing studies, it can be tough to wrap your mind around the size of the impact of a good or bad framing catcher. These effect sizes are not out of line with what has been reported in the past, but they’re still obscenely large. Everyone agrees that Mike Trout was either a deserving MVP or a deserving runner-up in each of the past two seasons, which the stats say were worth close to 10 wins apiece. Our data suggest that over the past five years, the teams that have employed good framers like Jonathan Lucroy, Brian McCann, and Jose Molina have received essentially “free” MVP-caliber seasons from framing alone. (Each of those catchers has been worth about two extra wins per season over that span). This is a staggering amount of value. Add in the fact that these wins are almost assuredly not properly priced into the free agent market, and the difference between having a good framing catcher or a bad framing catcher can make or break a cost-conscious team.

edit2: According to BP's new-fangled catching stat, Salvy Perez is pretty much average in the new statistics they are adding. He's slightly below average in framing and a little above average in blocking pitches. This obviously doesn't include his ability to throw out runners which is way above average.

[alnorth]

Oh, and if anyone cares, we apparently fought the White Sox to a 6-6 draw today. Vargas went 3 scoreless, Gordon went 3-3, and Ciriaco of all people homered in the dry Arizona air.

[Mother****erJones]

Good luck this season fellas.