I hope he stays healthy and you're right. He looks like he could be a huge steal.

John McMillion strikes out two in 1-2-3 eighth. He has eight Ks in four innings since his call up.

Blake Mitchell is playing like crap compared to the guys drafted right after him. I think the Royals are going to hide him next season because they already know they made a mistake.

One reason not to panic, he has more walks (17) than strikeouts (14).

It was a risky pick. Early returns are not making it look great.

He's had 34 ABs. Let's not panic yet.

the mitchell pick was a waste, everybody knows it. The front office still thinks "feelings" about kids is a scouting technique.

He should already be in Low A and pounding those pitching staff's. They are going to hide him all off-season and hope people forget about him while they worry about the stadium. This pick should get Ontiveros fired.

yeah, that guy is a clown...

He should already be in low A? Historically, high picks out of high school don't usually make it out of rookie ball in the season of their draft year. Bobby Witt Jr. didn't play above rookie ball in his 2019 pro debut.

There are outliers of course like Nolan Gorman, but development isn't linear.

Just for context, I went back and looked at the famous 2005 amateur draft when five big time prospect outfielders were taken out of HS in the first round with Justin Upton, Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Colby Rasmus.

Upton and Maybin signed late and didn't play at all, but McCutchen, Bruce and Rasmus only played in rookie ball after they signed.

The following year, Maybin, Bruce and Upton spent the entire year at low Single-A. Rasmus got promoted to high Single-A after starting in low A and McCutchen got a late promotion to Double-A after playing the majority of the year in low A.

I think there's a middle ground here that's less doom-and-gloom than this without being overly optimistic.

Walker Jenkins and Max Clark have been advanced to regular A ball, and each have about 10 at-bats with solid production but not what I would call "pounding those pitching staffs" ... and those are two players who were considered significantly more advanced than the other HS bats.

For the HS guys that came after Mitchell, you have Bryce Eldridge earning a promotion and Raphy Velazquez and Arjun Nimmala NOT yet. NImmala is pretty similar to Mitchell. Eldridge isn't. Valazquez is crushing rookie ball pitching.

Anyway, the point here is that I don't think Mitchell not advancing past rookie ball as a HS rookie is an indictment in and of itself. The success or failure of the pick is on how he progresses from here.

As I say often, prospect development is not linear. Sometimes a guy mashes early but has a flaw that gets exploited and holds him back at higher levels. Sometimes a team is trying to fix something about a hitter and he struggles early before adjusting and taking off. Etc.

Onteveros needs things to turn next year for Mitchell and Cross, though, or his seat is going to get plenty warm.

There are some good things going on in the minor league system. Primarily with the pitching side. On the position player side, there's not a lot there - and the guys they HAVE invested in are looking weaker than a lot of players taken after them.

The college bats taken after Mitchell, especially, are making it look bad.

Mitchell is the next Carter Jensen. You shut ur mouf

The Royals really seem to have lost all concept on what the draft or developing players is about.

Meh. They didn't promote Bobby Witt right to Single A his first year either.

Brutal game tonight