***Official 2022 Royals Season Repository Thread***

[ChiefsCountry]

For all things Royals in 2022. #3 minor league system according to Baseball America. The Bobby Witt era should begin this year. Will Salvy still be the homerun king? How does the glut of infield players work out? Will the young pitchers take the next step?

Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Zack Greinke, P
Amir Garrett, P
Taylor Clarke, P

Top 10 Prospects from Baseball America
1. Bobby Witt, SS
2. Asa Lacy, P
3. MJ Melendez, C
4. Nick Pratto, 1B
5. Jackson Kowar, P
6. Kyle Isabel, OF
7. Frank Mozzicato, P
8. Ben Kudrna, P
9. Jonathan Bowlan, P
10. Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B

Duncan's Top Royals Prospects

Spoiler!

1. Bobby Witt, Jr., SS. MLB.
This status lasts about another 4 weeks, but let’s take a moment to appreciate having the top guy in the minor league prospects lists for at least a little while longer. Witt has prodigious ability and the question is really just IF he can meet it. They have not had a prospect like this in my lifetime, and really probably ever. Combine insane raw physical skills (right there with Adalberto Mondesi and Willie Wilson in the ranks right behind Bo Jackson) with unbelievable work ethic, a humble-but-confident nature, and already having shown he can struggle and overcome to achieve big success, and you have the tools for a show-stopping centerpiece. Oh, and throw in the former-player’s kid aspect on it on top of things, and there is every reason to believe he’s going to succeed and succeed big.
2. M.J. Melendez, C, AAA Omaha.
I was early on putting him in this slot last year, and I don’t regret it. The power, the ability to be a good defender behind the dish as well as having the athletic ability to play 3B or LF, too, and you have a really valuable overall piece and FANTASTIC understudy for Salvador Perez.
3. Asa Lacy, LHP. AA Northwest Arkansas
Whoa, let’s get crazy again. Lacy has outstanding stuff. Top of the system. He got hurt and lost his command during COVID times, but appears to be back on track so far this spring. If his command sticks, this is a guy who can move quickly. And his ceiling is really second to nobody in the minor league pitching ranks.
4. Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B. AA Northwest Arkansas
Vinnie starts the season back at AA due to the guy who follows him on the list here. He just hits, folks. I love his combination of contact, loud contact, plate discipline, and lack of strikeouts. The Billy Butler comparisons are annoying (in that I will NEVER refer to this man as Italian Breakfast except in the instance that just occurred), but the Billy Butler comparisons are also fairly apt… if you made Butler a lefthanded hitter, AND improved his body/athleticism from a 20 to a 40, AND if you added that little extra touch of power we all wished Butler could consistently find.
5. Nick Pratto, 1B, AAA Omaha.
Hey, let’s stay at 1B. Pratto has flashy power and I love his batting eye AND his hand-eye coordination. The hair he’s been rocking this spring is also pretty sweet. I slot him just behind Pasquantino simply because I think his bat profile is more volatile. The glove and arm are sweet/plus for 1B, though.
6. Jonathan Bowlan, RHP, AAA Omaha
Bowlan is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and this ranking is assuming that recovering is successful. If it his, you’re talking about a big, consistent SP who throws hard enough and has enough of a repertoire to really make things happen. If the recovery goes well, he may be shuttling to the majors in July to reinforce the rotation.
7. Nick Loftin, CF, AA Omaha.
Loftin is a guy who has really grown on me. I saw him as a quasi super-utility guy when the Royals drafted him, The full-time shift to CF (which means they think he has the speed and the overall defensive ability to handle CF in Kansas City) adds a lot of value here. The ultimate positive offensive upside is similar to peak Whit Merrifield, maybe with a touch more early power.
8. Michael Massey, 2B, AA Northwest Arkansas.
Massey was an absolute revelation last year, hitting for power and average and keeping his K rate down while playing a really strong 2B. He has a very sweet, short lefthanded stroke. This is another aggressive rating, but Massey has proven himself through a tough minor league assignment already, and the arrow is pointed up.
9. Ben Kudrna, RHP, Rookie Ball
Kudrna is a big, physical specimen with a lot of upside and potential. The fastball and slider are already nearly MLB-level in terms of velocity and movement (command needs work). Kudrna is a guy who, with luck, and health, and good development, could ascend to the top of a rotation.
10. Frank Mozzicato, LHP, Rookie Ball.
Mozzicato has a curveball that suggests he has a feel for spin. If you want to dream, you hope that the next 2-3 years turn the 175 he weighed when drafted into a rock-solid 220/225 and carries with it an increase in fastball velocity from 90-91, sitting 87-88, to 96-97, sitting 93-94. You pair his ability to spin the ball (which also suggests he should be able to easily master a sweeper slider) with that type of fastball velo and a changeup he already has a feel for, and it’s an exciting profile.

He has a little more to go in terms of growing into that projectability than Kudrna, which is why he slots right behind him.
11. Alec Marsh, RHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Marsh missed a lot of 2021 to injury, but the hard-throwing righthander is another guy who could move quickly once the minor league season starts. He’s undeniably got the stuff of a quality major-league pitcher. The question is if he can master enough command to cash it in. This guy is a great example of TINSTAAPP.
12. Angel Zerpa, LHP, AAA Omaha
Zerpa might quickly outperform this slot. His stuff ticked up in 21 and he ended the season making a start in the majors. He’s nice depth to have, and honestly, I’m a big fan of just throwing numbers at pitching. Zerpa definitely helps create the depth you need to generate a top-notch and reliable home-grown rotation.
13. Maikel Garcia, SS, AA Northwest Arkansas
Garcia is a really intriguing hitter, a righthanded hitter who has a nice combination of contact skills and control of the strike zone (this cousin of Alcides Escobar is less savvy with the glove and more savvy at the plate). The Royals protected him for a reason (he’s on the 40-man).
14. Carter Jensen, C, A ??
Jensen is a local product whose bat will probably push him off C (as well as the Royals depth at that spot throughout the organization). This is a future 1B profile, and a nice one. He makes a lot of loud contact and shows an ability to lift the ball. Should be fun to watch this year.
15. Ben Hernandez, RHP, A+ Quad Rivers
Hernandez missed a good part of 2021 but still has that butterfly changeup and a classic pitcher’s profile. He’ll need to find a reliable swing-and-miss secondary to make it in the bigs, but if not, the fastball velocity and changeup should make him a quality high-leverage reliver.
16. Dylan Coleman, RHP, AAA Omaha
Speaking of relievers, Coleman is a hard-throwing righthander who probably spends most of 22 in the Royals’ pen. ½ of the compensation for the Rosenthal trade a few years back, Coleman has a big fastball and nasty breaking ball.
17. Will Klein, RHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Speaking of relivers, everything I just said about Coleman? Yeah, you can say it about Klein, too. Klein regularly toyed with hitters at high A last year, striking out 121 hitters in just 70 1/3 innings pitched. For those counting at home, that’s a 15.5 K/9 rate. Yep. That’ll play.
18. Anthony Veneziano, LHP, AA Northwest Arkansas
Here’s another big, power arm. Veneziano hasn’t been relegated to bullpen only yet, though. His fastball bumped into the high 90s last year on a starter’s workload. He’s still looking for a changeup, but if he doesn’t find it, you’re looking at a really promising future bullpen fireballer.
19. Erick Pena, OF, A ?
Pena did… not have a strong 2021 full season debut. His struggles look a lot like those of Pratto and Melendez in 2019. Pena has the same type of raw toolkit to work from as those two, with great hands and natural power. He needs to fix a hitch in his swing and calm it down, but so did Melendez. Of this second ten grouping, Pena has the highest upside and could jump right into the top 5 of the org ranks.
20. Darryl Collins, OF, A+
Collins is an international signing out of Europe. I like the hitting package here – good eye and contact skills. He needs to make more loud contact, but if he can, really a nice guy.

Overall takeaways:
This is a system with a lot of depth. We could go another 10-12 deep and still be talking about guys with a good shot to make the majors. The changes to the organization’s approach are bearing fruit, as even less-heralded draftees are stepping forward.

The combination of upside (Witt, Melendez, Lacy), depth, and guys you can dream on is fun. It may not produce quite as much as the 2011 group did, but it does offer a more sustainable system, less reliant on a few big-ticket guys.

[srvy]

Good for Carlos! Still, he needed to go wish we could have gotten more for him.

[KChiefs1]

Maikel Garcia is getting called up before Michael Massey?

Probably because he's already on the 40 man and Massey isn't, right?


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[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by BWillie

At some point it really doesn't matter if the offer is good. You get what you get.

No you don't. That's reeruned. You just keep him then.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Maikel Garcia is getting called up before Michael Massey?

Probably because he's already on the 40 man and Massey isn't, right?


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Doubleheader tomorrow can call up one extra.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

No you don't. That's reeruned. You just keep him then.

To lose for no reason and tie up a spot where you could get a young guy ABs?

Guys like Merrifield have no value to bad teams. Zero. The only value Merrifield has is ticket and jersey sales for the owner and revenue.

[Wilson8]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...el-garcia.html

Story on call up of Maikel Garcia but also talks about Whitt Merrifield injury.

An international signing out of Venezuela in 2016, Garcia has some family ties to the K.C. organization, as his cousin is longtime former Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar. Baseball America ranks Garcia as the 15th-best prospect in the Royals farm system, while MLB Pipeline has him 18th. The 22-year-old had never even played Double-A ball prior to this season, though he has hit .283/.362/.395 over 348 plate appearances.

Kansas City manager Mike Matheny told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that the club was awaiting MRI results on Merrifield, though initial x-rays were negative. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like Merrifield will be available for tomorrow’s doubleheader, so Garcia can provide some extra infield depth.

[KChiefs1]

O’s have passed the Royals.



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[tk13]

Speaking of Baltimore, our guy Jorge Lopez made the All-Star team. Like Junis another guy with really good stuff who's finally having some success. Will this be Jackson Kowar one day, only time will tell. Happy for Jorge though, the guy always had the stuff to be a good pitcher.

Our All-Star ��

Watch the moment Lopey found out that he will be our representative at the 2022 All-Star Game in LA! pic.twitter.com/7vOcxNtoyq

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 10, 2022

[Bearcat]

Yeah, Baltimore hasn't trailed the Royals since April.

[KChiefs1]

https://insidethecrown.substack.com/...ore-trade-talk

David Lesky

Trade Chatter

The draft is obviously incredibly important and we’re now less than a week away from that starting, but the biggest talk around the team all the way up to the August 2 deadline will be what moves the Royals make. We all know the one name who absolutely will be dealt, barring a David DeJesus-like untimely injury - Benintendi. And we know the rest of the candidates. Whit Merrifield (his health is in question now), Michael A. Taylor, Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Brad Keller, Zack Greinke, Hunter Dozier, Nicky Lopez and maybe a surprise or two. I reached out to someone who is a lot more connected than me who said the trade talk is very quiet, probably because of the draft, but it is starting to pick up as teams have started to get closer to their conclusion of draft work.

The consensus is that Benintendi is going to bring back a nice chunk, maybe more than a traditional rental because of the interest in him. We’ve heard about the most interest from the Yankees, Braves and Blue Jays, but there’s a pretty strong argument to be made that he also fits with the Red Sox, Rays, White Sox, Twins, Guardians, Mariners, Phillies, Brewers, Cardinals and Padres. That’s nearly half of the league. My question that I really don’t know the answer to is if it’s smart to pair him with someone like Barlow to get a bigger return. Jim Bowden had a trade suggestion (and his trade ideas are often a reminder of why he is no longer a GM) of Benintendi and Barlow for Andy Pages, Gavin Stone, Jake Vogel and cash. Vogel is sort of meh to me and I might see if the Dodgers would replace Pages with Miguel Vargas, but if they wouldn’t, I’d still say yes very fast. If that’s the sort of haul that pairing Barlow with him gets, then it’s a wise choice.

But the other candidates have a lot of juice on their own merit and spreading the prospect return around might be wiser as well. Many teams would love to have Barlow. It seems to me the time to trade him is right now, though I don’t think I’m alone in doubting the Royals do it. Staumont needs to come back healthy and wouldn’t bring back as much, so maybe it’s not the worst idea to keep him for now. I’ve asked and the Keller market is quiet, but that could change as we get closer to the deadline. Greinke is in a similar spot and Lopez isn’t exactly coveted. He feels like more of an offseason trade anyway if he’s moved. But that leaves Taylor and Merrifield. Many teams are and will be interested. The Royals don’t have a center fielder ready to go, but that shouldn’t matter. They do have multiple second basemen either on the roster or close, so moving Merrifield is a no-brainer. To this point, as I said, it’s quiet, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if rumors start ramping up a lot at the end of this week and then crescendo right after the All-Star Game next Tuesday.

A Debut

All signs point to Maikel Garcia getting the callup today. By the time you read this, you might know who he replaced. Is he the 27th man because Merrifield is hurt for a couple of days and can’t play? Is Merrifield going on the IL? We’ll know that soon, but I’ll give a quick idea of what you’re going to get with Garcia. First of all, he’s Alicides Escobar’s cousin (and Ronald Acuña Jr. too) and you’re going to see a lot of Esky in him, just with more walks. I think there’s some power left to develop but not much. He has a good approach. He plays very good defense. And he can really run. He makes a ton of contact and doesn’t strike out much. I worry a bit that he’ll be overmatched by velocity in the big leagues, but he’s on the 40-man, so he’s the call for now, but I do think of Merrifield is out for an extended period of time that Michael Massey may get the call.


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[Vladimir_Kyrilytch]

Originally Posted by tk13

Speaking of Baltimore, our guy Jorge Lopez made the All-Star team. Like Junis another guy with really good stuff who's finally having some success. Will this be Jackson Kowar one day, only time will tell. Happy for Jorge though, the guy always had the stuff to be a good pitcher.

I play MLB the Show, the video game, to keep myself young. Jorge Lopez got a virtual card recently that is basically the best reliever in the whole game.

In the virtual sense, I face Lopez often and he is nasty! I forgot he was originally on the Royals. Oof.

[WhawhaWhat]

Atlanta and Kansas City are finalizing a trade that will send center-field prospect Drew Waters, right-handed pitching prospect Andrew Hoffmann and a third minor leaguer to the Royals for the 35th pick in Sunday's draft, which has a $2.2 million slot value, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 11, 2022

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Vladimir_Kyrilytch

I play MLB the Show, the video game, to keep myself young. Jorge Lopez got a virtual card recently that is basically the best reliever in the whole game.

In the virtual sense, I face Lopez often and he is nasty! I forgot he was originally on the Royals. Oof.

The Royals are literally that team that prospect pitchers fail repeatedly then they leave and find success elsewhere.

[ChiefsCountry]

Waters is the Braves's #1 prospect and CF is a death mine in the Royals system. That opens up MAT for a trade now.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Atlanta and Kansas City are finalizing a trade that will send center-field prospect Drew Waters, right-handed pitching prospect Andrew Hoffmann and a third minor leaguer to the Royals for the 35th pick in Sunday's draft, which has a $2.2 million slot value, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 11, 2022

I think I like this trade.