*** Official 2018-2019 Royals Offseason Repository ***

[ChiTown]

So, an offensively challenged team, just got more challenged?

[big nasty kcnut]

This ****ing sucks.

[siberian khatru]

All those Salvy splashes over the years finally caught up with him.

[jimidollar]

And just like that, the season was over. Damn, I was really looking forward to some Royals baseball. Plus, I just found out my cousin has stage 4 breast cancer. Today sucks!

[Sure-Oz]

Good rest those knees. Sucks though

[KChiefs1]

https://theathletic.com/834595/2019/...-hes-a-mentor/

SURPRISE, Ariz. — When Royals catcher Salvador Perez was young, his teammates gave him a simple nickname. They called him “El Niño” — or, The Boy. Perez was exuberant and gleeful and somewhat naive, the youngest figure in the clubhouse. He embodied the spirit of a kid brother.

Now 28, Perez is a six-time All-Star with five Gold Glove Awards and a World Series MVP trophy to his name. He still strives for innocence, he says, to be a source of energy for his teammates. Yet as he arrived here at spring training, he quietly slipped into a new role:

Teacher.

“I’m starting to feel pretty old,” he said.

There’s a reason for this, of course. The Royals feature one of the most coveted crops of young minor-league catchers in the game, a triumvirate that includes 2017 second-round pick MJ Melendez, rising Venezuelan prospect Sebastian Rivero and Meibrys Viloria, who debuted in the major leagues last September. Viloria is 22, and Melendez and Rivero are still just 20. All three project as future major leaguers — and possible starters. And all three have spent chilly mornings this spring learning from Perez, one of the best defensive catchers in the game.

“It’s just learning the way he works and his routines,” Melendez said. “Learning the drills he does and why he practices that. Just learning what made him a Gold Glove catcher.”

For Perez, the mentorship first began in January, when he joined Melendez for offseason workouts at Florida International University in Miami, where Melendez’s father, Mervyl, serves as head baseball coach. The sessions were arranged and conducted by Royals catching coach Pedro Grifol, who also winters in Miami. The workouts were detailed and scripted, featuring work on blocking, throwing and receiving. They doubled as a master’s class for Melendez, 20, who spent last season at low-Class A Lexington.

Each day, Perez woke up early, made a 30-minute commute across town and put in a morning sweat with Melendez in his shadow. Most days, Melendez peppered him with questions on drills and how to improve certain facets of his defense.

“The catching position is a leadership position,” Grifol said. “To be a leader, you got to be a teacher, too.”

In some ways, Perez exists as a template for an organization that puts a premium on identifying and developing young catchers. Signed out of Venezuela in 2006, he graduated to the major leagues in 2011 and anchored back-to-back American League pennant winners as he grew into one of the best catchers in the world. Eight years after his debut, he remains a benchmark for club officials and young catchers alike.

“We’ve got a potential Hall of Fame catcher on our major-league team,” said Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo. “So the right picture is painted for them at a young age.”

These days, the “them” Picollo refers to is Viloria, Melendez and Rivero, a trio that excites both club officials and prospect gurus. Royals manager Ned Yost says he has “never had a crop of young catchers like this.” Grifol says he’s rarely seen such catching talent bunched together.

Viloria, 22, signed for six figures out of Colombia in 2013 before breaking out in prospect circles with a strong season at rookie-level Idaho Falls in 2016. Last September, he became the rare prospect to jump from high-A Wilmington to the majors.

Viloria, listed at 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds, draws high marks for his offensive potential, posting a .355 on-base percentage across four minor-league seasons. Yet he’s also proven capable on defense, and he impressed club officials last September with his ability to handle major-league pitchers.

“He’s a tough kid,” Yost said.

After his September callup, Viloria spent part of last offseason playing in the Arizona Fall League, a finishing school for top position prospects. He posted a .415 on-base percentage in 12 games and recorded a walk-off single in the AFL All-Star Game, crushing a ball into the gap and punctuating the moment with a bat flip. (He’s also adept at bat flips.) Yet it’s possible he could be the second- (or even third-) best long-term catching prospect in the Royals’ system.

The top spot likely belongs to Melendez, who eschewed the opportunity to play for his father in college after being selected with the 52nd overall pick in the 2017 draft. Melendez, who signed a $2.1 million bonus that was way above slot value, is a lithe left-handed hitter who mashed 19 homers and recorded an .814 OPS as a teenager at low-A Lexington.

He is not a finished product at the plate, however. He is still prone to slumps and strikeouts (143 in 472 plate appearances last season). Yet scouts see a two-way catcher with an athletic frame, a strong arm, keen defensive instincts and plenty of raw power. He is likely to add muscle to his 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame. His left-handed bat offers another wrinkle. And he could join outfielders Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias, first baseman Nick Pratto and pitchers Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch in what could be the next wave of top-tier talent in the Royals’ system.

The demand for catching during spring training means that Melendez is here at major-league camp while many of his old Lexington teammates, including Pratto, are still on the minor-league side. Then again, Melendez is not even the only catcher from the Lexington roster who is turning heads in Royals camp.

The final member of the trio is Rivero, a 20-year-old from Venezuela who signed with the Royals in the summer of 2015. Rivero, who could be the best defensive catcher in the system, debuted in the Dominican Summer League in 2016 and quickly graduated to rookie ball in Arizona. He spent the 2018 season sharing starts with Melendez at Lexington; both made the South Atlantic League All-Star Game.

“Two catchers on the same team make the All-Star Game,” Yost said. “How does that happen?”

To this point, Rivero’s stock has perhaps been higher inside the Royals’ organization than the outside industry views him. Melendez is a top pick, while Viloria has played in the major leagues. Rivero, listed at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, does not possess that order of hype, yet club evaluators still view him as a possible major-league starter in the future.

“We think he’s a front-line guy.” Picollo said. “We think he’s a starter. He has all the attributes of a starter.

“He’s a guy that, without question, he thinks about his defense first.”

The Royals’ organizational focus on catching is not uncommon within the sport. Good catchers are scarce, and great catchers are even more rare, making them valuable assets in the industry. The Royals, however, see the importance in clear terms. General manager Dayton Moore likes to say that there are fewer great major-league catchers than NFL quarterbacks. And club officials believe that a strong pitching staff starts behind the plate.

“If you want to have a championship pitching staff,” Moore said. “You got to have a terrific catcher.”

The Royals believe the process first begins with attention. The club will open the season with two homegrown catchers on the roster, including backup Cam Gallagher, who was selected in the second round in 2011. Gallagher draws high marks for his pitch-framing, and the club’s analytics department has run studies on the value of the skill. Perez praises Grifol’s coaching and instruction, downplaying his own teaching. And a few years ago, Picollo said, the club even conducted research on the optimal number of starts for a minor-league catcher.

The number for younger catchers was somewhere between 80-90 starts, which is why the club is comfortable having Melendez and Rivero split time again at high-A Wilmington.

“It’s a good problem to have, because they feed off each other,” Picollo said. “You can never have enough of them.”

Beyond the stats and instruction, the team has an unofficial goal of drafting a catcher in the top five rounds each year. The volatility of the draft doesn’t always allow for that, Picollo said. So the front office has also invested millions in international signings.

“The supply is short, the demand is great,” Picollo said. “So if you’re going to sign catchers, you have to be pretty aggressive.”

Sometimes, of course, fortune favors the bold. In 2006, the Royals offered a modest bonus for Perez, a teenager from Venezuela with good feet and a big smile. Thirteen years later, The Boy is a franchise icon, a World Series champion poised to enter the Royals’ Hall of Fame when his playing days are done.

The thing about catchers, though, is that they cannot play forever. The body ages. The physical toll is brutal. The professional life span is limited. Perez is under contract through the 2021 season, at which point he will be 31 years old with more than 1,000 games caught. The Royals have not scripted out a post-Perez future. Yet a quick glance around the spring training clubhouse offers a glimpse into the future.

“It’s a really, really nice crop,” Yost said. “I’ve never had it before.”

For now, Perez is still here, and his work ethic and style are rubbing off on his younger teammates. One morning this spring, Rivero stood near his locker and spoke about his childhood in Mariara, Venezuela, a small town located between Maracay and Valencia. Rivero grew up playing baseball, idolizing Venezuelan catcher Henry Blanco. And as he spoke, the story came out in nearly fluent English. This is no accident.

“I wanted to learn it really bad,” he said. “(I told) my mom: ‘I need to learn English. I need to communicate with my pitchers so we can understand better, (have) a good connection.’

“That’s something that I need.”

Rivero said he took basic English classes in high school, learning simple vocabulary and verb constructions. “Like ‘to be,’” he said. But it wasn’t until he spent a summer in rookie ball in Burlington, N.C., that he became motivated to master his new language. He spent the next year working with the Royals’ instructors and asking questions of teammates. Two years later, he had become one of the youngest Latin players in the organization to pass the club’s English proficiency test.

It’s a story that inspires pride among the Royals’ player development staff. It’s the kind of intelligence and makeup needed to play behind the plate. Yet it’s also a familiar story.

Salvador Perez, they say, was the exact same way.

[Great Expectations]

Could Salvy have Tommy John surgery next week and then play as a DH in August?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

Could Salvy have Tommy John surgery next week and then play as a DH in August?

Potentially. Or September.

Might as well give it a shot if he’s healthy.

[Great Expectations]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Just use my rules: if the first team to touch the ball scores, team 2 has one chance to *beat* (not tie) that score. If team one has the guts to go for 8pts, they win. Otherwise sudden death as normal.

Imagine the AFC CG with Mahomes having one chance to go down and score 8 pts. Or Belichick having the balls to go for 2. But if they miss, Mahomes wins with a TD+1. Much more exciting for the fans.

Belichick would have gone for two and converted. He likes math, and math would’ve been on his side.

Is Bubba still hot?

[tk13]

Well that's a great way to start off Spring Training. Only thing that's to our advantage that the FA market is so ridiculously slow a guy like Maldonado is still out there.

Should at least give our younger catchers a chance to get some reps in spring and see if they can earn the job too.

[dallaschiefsfan]

Not the end of the world if they sign Maldonado...but would much rather they just ride it out with Viloria and Cam...with Viloria getting the majority of starts.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan

Not the end of the world if they sign Maldonado...but would much rather they just ride it out with Viloria and Cam...with Viloria getting the majority of starts.

well, you don't want to ruin the kid if he's not ready.

[dallaschiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

well, you don't want to ruin the kid if he's not ready.

Doubt he's that fragile. They gave him the September promotion because they were confident he could make the jump. The more important considerations are Lopez, Keller and Fillymyer. If a vet is better for those guys, then so be it.

[BWillie]

We have like a billion catchers in the minors. Signing a old vet catcher is borderline idiotic. Run Viloria out there. Gallagher etc. Good news is you'll know what you have once the year is up. We are going to suck anyway.

Embrace the suck.