| KChiefs1 |
06-05-2021 06:19 AM |
Q&A with JJ Picollo:
Quote:
Conversations about the minor leagues tend to be about prospects.
How is the high draft pick performing? Which under-the-radar guy has surprised? Why is this prospect struggling?
With the Kansas City Royals, though, there is a discussion to be had about team performance. Wins and losses tell one tale — Triple-A Omaha, High-A Quad Cities and Low-A Columbia are leading their respective divisions — but even more illuminating are the team-wide hitting statistics.
Let’s start at Triple-A Omaha. This year, the club has posted a .797 OPS, which is up .041 from 2019. Then there’s Double-A Northwest Arkansas. This year, the Naturals lead the Double-A Central with a .796 OPS and .353 OBP. In 2019, they ranked last in both categories with a .664 OPS and .309 OBP. The numbers continue throughout the system. High-A Quad Cities leads its league in on-base percentage (.344), and Low-A Columbia ranks second in its league in on-base percentage (.356).
And though it has only been a month, this success doesn’t feel like a fluke, specifically within the context of the changes the Royals’ development staff made in 2019. For more on those changes and insight into how well specific players have produced, we spoke to Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
We’ll start with Royals top prospect Bobby Witt Jr., who has hit five home runs in his past five games. He’s currently batting .243/.313/.485. What have you thought about his recent performance?
It’s been great. We knew the early struggles weren’t indicative of his abilities and what he was going to do. You just hope guys can maintain their confidence when they’re going through a little bit of a tough stretch — which he did. The quality of his at-bats, even when he wasn’t getting the results, was still good. Our hitting coach down there, Abraham Nunez, wasn’t panicked at all. And most importantly, Bobby wasn’t. He just has a lot of confidence in who he is and what he can do, and now he’s driving balls and doing things we suspected that he would. It’s been good to see.
How much did the desire to see Witt rebound from struggles play into the assignment to Double-A Northwest Arkansas?
How guys deal with adversity certainly impacts where we start a guy. We always had the option of letting him go to A-ball and dominate that. But guys need to go through adversity because it prepares them for what’s ahead. It’s not going to be easy in the major leagues. There are going to be streaks where guys go through tough times at the level, regardless of where they are in their careers. Experiencing that and learning how to combat it and make adjustments, that’s all part of the progression players need to go through. Bobby got to experience it. He’ll be better off for it in the long run. We know he’s an extremely talented guy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there weren’t going to be any bumps in the road. This was a very short period of time, and he’s responded exceptionally well.
First-base prospect Nick Pratto (1.137 OPS) and catching prospect MJ Melendez (.966 OPS) have raked against pitching at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. How nice has it been to see them perform the way they have?
We watched these guys last summer consciously try to make changes — a little bit to their swing, but more so in their approaches to their at-bats. Both have taken to it really well.
We played each other last year into October. In spring training, a lot of it was against ourselves. Those guys got some time in major-league games, but the real test was going to be when you’re doing it under the lights in a championship season night after night. We suspected they’d do well, but until we reached that point, until they did it against other teams, we didn’t know. They’re doing it really well.
Overall, it’s been really impressive on a lot of fronts. The walk rates, the on-base percentage, the OPS, the slug — it’s a notable difference organizationally. But those two guys are certainly leading that charge right now.
Shifting back to the players, outfield prospect Edward Olivares sprinted out of the gate at Triple-A Omaha and was promoted as Jorge Soler missed some games. He was optioned Thursday. What was behind that decision?
Unfortunately, it was just roster management. You’d love to have as many players as you can. But you want young guys to have the opportunity to play, and with Soler being back, you don’t want Oli to sit. He’s done some really good things. What he was doing in Triple A, that’s what we need. We need guys to step forward. When there was an opportunity, he was prepared. And he did a nice job. He just needs to keep getting at-bats. You just can’t lose what you’ve built by sitting on the bench. It’s a good thing for our organization to have that depth.
Which other hitters have impressed?
Maikel Garcia (.920 OPS) has been unbelievable — even if you go back to his winter ball season in Venezuela. There’s some added strength to his frame. He’s lean, but there’s strength. He’s got a good feel for the game. His instincts offensively and defensively stand out. And it’s been really consistent. That’s been great to see.
Tucker Bradley (.996 OPS) got moved up. It seems like night in and night out, he’s taking quality at-bats. He did it again last night. That’s a great thing to see. He and Tyler Gentry and Nick Loftin are getting their first test of professional baseball at the High-A level. So that’s not an easy jump, but they’re doing it and doing it well.
The other guy who is worth noting is Rudy Martin (.986 OPS) at Double A. He’s been in our system for some time. He has speed and is athletic. He continues to mature as a hitter. He’s on a pretty good run and is a model of consistency, taking good at-bats. It’s been good to see that.
On the pitching side, it makes sense to start with right-handed pitching prospect Jackson Kowar (0.85 ERA in 30 2/3 innings) at Triple-A Omaha. What has impressed you the most about his performance?
I think what’s most impressive about him is that it’s now been six starts. The consistency of his fastball command has stood out. He’s always had a good changeup, but there are nights when it’s really plus, and that’s carried him. And then there are nights when his breaking ball is really good. When his breaking ball is on and he’s got that changeup and throwing 97, it’s a tough thing for a hitter. He’s had nights where that breaking ball has been really good. What I’m saying is he’s managed to navigate and win games in different ways. When you’re at Triple-A and having that kind of success, it’s hard not to gain confidence. It’s exactly what we need guys to do. We need guys to separate themselves, and he’s doing that right now.
How has left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Lynch handled being optioned a few starts after his big-league debut?
He has handled it well. He was given some specific things he needed to address. He’s working on them every day. He’s sticking to the plan. And he’s executing. His starts since he’s been back have been very good.
The hard part for young players, and I’ve thought about this for a lot of years, is you go through a development system. You’ve been given the ball every fifth day consistently. We monitor performance, but if he doesn’t have a couple of good starts, nothing wavers. But when a player gets to the major leagues, it is really about production. And Daniel’s first outing was really good. He should’ve gotten through five innings. It didn’t work out. The two subsequent starts, he got hit, but there were some things that happened, and maybe the outcomes that could’ve been different. I think Daniel would be the first to tell you he didn’t make certain pitches he needed to make. He missed spots. And we were going through a tough time. We had to do what we needed to do to make sure our team was winning.
I don’t think it was an indication we don’t think he’s ready. It was just timing. Daniel is going to get back and be good. We’ll stay convicted about that for a long time. It’s unfortunate. He’s one of many guys who go up and have to come back, and when they come back they’re typically better. He’ll get that opportunity. It’s just a matter of when. And he’ll be better for it.
How would you assess the Double-A pitching staff’s outings?
They’re performing the way we thought they would. Jon Heasley keeps giving us strong start after strong start. Alec Marsh has been outstanding at times. Austin Cox is back in the mix and throwing the ball well. Marcelo Martinez, who we don’t talk about a lot, has got some weapons. He’s got a really good changeup and is always throwing strikes. At times, he’s been the anchor. They’re doing well. The obvious thing is missing Jonathan Bowlan. (Editor’s note: The Royals announced last week that Bowlan will have Tommy John surgery.) It was a big hit, but we always say it takes 10 pitchers to get one, just with the attrition with injuries or guys not panning out. The good news here is Jonathan is a tremendous worker, and this is a surgery where guys come back and have success. He’ll do that.
The guy we probably need to mention, too, is Angel Zerpa. He’s been outstanding. He’s been on our 40-man roster. He’s handling High A extremely well. When guys start running starts together, you start talking about, “When’s the next challenge?” Right now, we want him to keep doing what he’s doing. He’s dominating a lot with his fastball and slider. He’s got a good changeup, so we want the pitch usage to look a little bit different. But he’s off to a great start, and he’s a good one.
Two pitchers who may not have been on the radars of many when this season began are lefties Drew Parrish (with a 0.00 ERA in 15 2/3 innings) and AJ Block (2.21 ERA in 20 1/3 innings). How encouraging has it been to see their performances?
Both have been dominant at the levels they were pitching at. AJ’s promotion coincided with Parrish going to Team USA. Both guys have a great ability to throw strikes. Both have different secondaries. Parrish has a really good changeup. Block has a good breaking ball. But both have real high swing-and-miss rates. They’ve been striking a lot of guys out, and they’ve been doing it pretty easily. That’s the good thing. They’ve both been guys we knew had that type of ability. You watch them pitch and go about their sides, and it’s not too surprising they’re doing well.
There’s also a left-hander at Low-A Columbia who has put together some impressive outings: Rylan Kaufman. What have you thought about what he’s been able to do recently (two outings, eight innings, two hits and zero runs)?
He’s got a tremendous arm. He’s up to 96 mph and 97 mph at times. He’s going to pitch at 93 and 94. It’s been an abnormal stretch without any games last year. They all needed last year, but there are certain guys who it’s like, “They really need this development time.” Not having that last year hurt him more than others, but what he’s done is continue to work on his delivery. He’s commanding the ball really well. He’s striking guys out. He’s not walking guys. And with that arm strength, it was a matter of getting him innings. He’s regimented. He works hard. It’s the game reps. Rylan needed to face hitters in games and execute things. It’s great to see. The ability has always been there. Now he’s doing it in games and gaining confidence with each outing.
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***Official 2021 Royals Season Repository Thread***
(https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=336108)