***Official 2021 Royals Season Repository Thread***

[ChiefsCountry]

For all things Royals for the new year.

Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana

Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP

[KCUnited]

Dave Owen back as base running strategist

[dlphg9]

Give it a month and Escobar will be our annual shitty gritty utility guy.

[TLO]

We need to bring back Dale Sveum as hitting coach.

[cmh6476]

Nicky must have hurt his wrist more than expected last night

[TLO]

Originally Posted by cmh6476

Nicky must have hurt his wrist more than expected last night

BWJ to the nearest curiosity phone.

[cmh6476]

Originally Posted by TLO

BWJ to the nearest curiosity phone.

can we give it a couple weeks please? I have May 15 tickets to the Naturals game :|

[SPchief]

#vote4omar

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by TLO

We need to bring back Dale Sveum as hitting coach.

If we can't trade for Eric Hosmer may be we can hire his hitting coach, his brother Mike Hosmer.

[PurpleJesus28]

I heard the chowderheads on MLB Network hypothetically speaking about what if the Royals could trade for Kris Bryant.I don't even know where he would play or that we could offer enough to pay him long term or to trade the Cubs.I'm so used to trading our good players away not trading for good players.

[Ocotillo]

Jackson Kowar tonight

5 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by PurpleJesus28

I heard the chowderheads on MLB Network hypothetically speaking about what if the Royals could trade for Kris Bryant.I don't even know where he would play or that we could offer enough to pay him long term or to trade the Cubs.I'm so used to trading our good players away not trading for good players.

If they got him, he would play 3rd base. That has been a hole on this team.

[PurpleJesus28]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

If they got him, he would play 3rd base. That has been a hole on this team.

Yeah i think so too,even though Dozier usually plays there,they both outfield too i guess.

[cmh6476]

do we have any mexicans who can start the GDT for some cinco de mayo juju to get this team going again?

[cmh6476]

https://kingsofkauffman.com/2021/05/...arm-clubs-win/

While KC Royals lose again, top farm clubs win impressively
by Mike Gillespie3 minutes ago Follow @MikeGillespieJD
TWEET
SHARE
x
COMMENT
The KC Royals lost again Tuesday. Fortunately, their top two farm clubs didn’t.
The KC Royals lost their third straight game Tuesday night and, for the second night in a row, their increasingly suspect bullpen had much to do with the loss. This time, the pen was at work when Cleveland tied the game and later scored four runs to top the Royals 7-3 and drop them into a first place tie with Chicago.

Fortunately, Kansas City’s top two farm teams benefitted from better pitching and won the first games they’ve played since 2019.

But first things first—the big club’s bullpen simply failed. Greg Holland inherited a bases loaded jam from Mike Minor in the sixth, and although a Nicky Lopez error cut KC’s 3-0 lead to one, it let Holland off only part of the hook: he immediately surrendered a game-tying hit. The pen collapsed in the eighth when Josh Staumont and Tyler Zuber combined to give Cleveland the additional run it needed, plus three more.

Things went much better at Triple-A Omaha.

Working his first regular season game above Double-A, Jackson Kowar, the Royals’ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, started against St. Paul and struck out nine in 5.1 scoreless innings. He surrendered only two singles before giving way to Jake Kalish in the sixth. Kowar, who’d surprise no one by making it to the majors this season, earned the win in the Storm Chasers’ 8-2 victory.

Although Kalish gave up two runs in his 2.2 innings, Andres Sotillet—like Kowar, pitching for the first time ever at Triple-A—struck out two in his scoreless frame to close out the game.

And the Storm Chasers’ bats were just as good as their pitching. Edward Olivares, who spent most of last September in Kansas City, tripled, homered, and drove in three runs in his first two at-bats to provide everything Omaha needed. Ryan McBroom, Anderson Miller and Gabriel Cancel added solo homers and Kelvin Gutierrez had a double and single.

Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. quiet in Naturals’ Opening Night victory.
If there’s a team fans follow this season more to track one player’s exploits than the club’s as a whole, it’s the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

That’s because Bobby Witt Jr., Pipeline’s No. 1 Royals’ prospect and seventh on its Top 100 list, and whose eventual promotion to the big leagues is the most anticipated Kansas City baseball event since the 2014 and 2015 World Series trips, is starting the season with the Naturals as the most closely watched player in the organization.

All eyes are on him, but those eyes didn’t see much from Witt’s bat Tuesday night. The Naturals beat the Arkansas Travelers 7-4, but Witt went 0-for-5, struck out twice, and left a pair of runners on base. He struck out swinging in the first, took a called third strike in the third, grounded out in the fifth, flied out two innings later, and popped out to the catcher in the eighth.

Catcher MJ Melendez, on the other hand, blasted a pair of two-run homers and drove in four runs. And two players who before last season’s canceled campaign appeared to be on the verge of a battle for a first base slot in the KC system, chipped in—rejuvenated first-sacker Nick Pratto, bolstered by a .345/.406/.862, four home run spring that restored him to hot prospect status after an atrocious .191 season at High-A Wilmington two years ago, hit a solo homer, and Travis Jones, who started in right Tuesday night, was 2-for-3.

Starter Jon Heasley and relievers Andres Nunez, Josh Dye and Collin Snyder combined for 14 strikeouts and held the Travelers to three earned runs, with Nunez earning the win and Snider a save.

The KC Royals’ new High-A club squanders Angel Zerpa’s excellent start.
Only one of the KC Royals’ two new farm clubs played Monday night—after tying the game in the eighth, Quad Cities lost to South Bend 7-4, while weather postponed Columbia’s contest with Augusta.

The River Bandits’ loss must hurt as much as their parent club’s defeat in Kansas City. Although they never led, starter Angel Zerpa, Pipeline’s No. 29 KC prospect, kept them in the game with the kind of pitching the Royals signed him in 2016 to deliver—he struck out seven, walked only one, scattered three hits and surrendered a lone run in five innings.

But like their big league bullpen counterparts, the Bandit relievers gave up too many runs—six to be precise, including three in the bottom of the eighth after Quad Cities tied the game in its half of the frame. Adam Lukas, a 12th round 2019 KC draft choice making his first professional appearance, surrendered all the eighth inning runs on two hits and two walks, and two errors on Bandit pick off plays (one by Lukas and another by catcher William Hancock) didn’t help.

First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino homered and left fielder Tyler Gentry singled twice for Quad Cities.

[cmh6476]

$5 tickets tonight, if you use promo code CINCO by 3 pm CT. Sounds like they have happy hour specials until first pitch; 50% off some appetizers at rivals, and $4 16 oz domestic and $5 premium draft beers.