***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.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

Handled poorly? My God, how much more rope did Dayton need?

Can he not be praised for winning two pennants and a WS (in a short time frame) while ALSO being held accountable for failing to field a competitive team post-2017?

This Jeff Flanagan stuff (and I like him, BTW) about how hard it is for a small market team to win a WS? Well, jeebus, apparently it's A LOT EASIER than winning 81+ games in the regular season over a 16-year period.

There's no reason why it has to be a feast/famine, either/or prospect ("You can be like Tampa and Oakland and have no WS, or you can be the Royals with one WS and a whole bunch of shit the rest of the time."). Sure, WS are hard to come by. But who says the trade-off for one has to be multiple 100-loss seasons?

They were suppose to let more resign and get a nice big fluff piece about what a great dude he is. Instead they fired him and basically said he wasn't good at his job anymore so the media people he was nice to, and built relationships with are big mad..

I bet the guys who wrote the athletic article he called liars however are not upset.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Mecca

But Jon Heyman is mad!

So is his brother, Buster.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Yeah the idea he was fired for a seminar is too dumb to take seriously. He was the same dude back in 14-15 and he wasn’t getting fired when he was going to the WS

Personally I think his tone deaf comments to Flanagan showed he wasn’t a good bet to actually fix the pitching woes . The fact Sherman didn’t wait 2 weeks implies he heard the comments and didn’t like them

He wasn't fired because of that stuff. You're right that it wouldn't come up if he was winning.

But that event leaking, his response to it, other comments... those things drive the "religious zealot" thing. Which gets more attention when things are going poorly and player selection and development is being given close scrutiny and examination.

[Sassy Squatch]

Do wonder if that article, or at least his reaction to it, had any part in his firing.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Do wonder if that article, or at least his reaction to it, had any part in his firing.

The timing of this sure seems to indicate it

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

He wasn't fired because of that stuff. You're right that it wouldn't come up if he was winning.

But that event leaking, his response to it, other comments... those things drive the "religious zealot" thing. Which gets more attention when things are going poorly and player selection and development is being given close scrutiny and examination.

Tonight an unnamed Royals staffer meets with Bobby Witt who asks for the stuff, he hands Bobby a flashdrive..he takes that drive to a personal room and plugs it into his laptop...Backdoor Sluts 7 appears on the screen..it is truly a new era in Kansas City.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by tk13

Man they were flat out killing the Royals on MLB Network this morning. Writers, former players, etc. all saying this was handled poorly especially for someone who is as respected as Dayton. That was interesting.

They’ve been on that bandwagon since yesterday. Everyone on that network loves Dayton Moore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Do wonder if that article, or at least his reaction to it, had any part in his firing.

I wonder if it just moved up the timing. I suspect Sherman may have done his own inquiries as to why things were the way they were, and the answers alone were enough to convince him a change was in order.

Maybe Dayton's thin-skinned, defensive reaction -- days after the story came out, after he'd had time to digest it and consider his response (with the coaching of Sam Mellinger) -- told Sherman not to wait until after the season.

That speculation is still alive.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

They’ve been on that bandwagon since yesterday. Everyone on that network loves Dayton Moore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Again, I think you can like Moore as a person, while also holding him accountable for his job. Sports leaders get fired all the time for performance reasons -- it's the ultimate results-based industry -- but that doesn't necessarily make them bad people (although Scott Pioli, I'm looking at you).

The inability of so many people to separate the two is maddening. Dayton wasn't wronged or disrespected. If anything, he was allowed a graceful exit at the press conference instead of being fired by press release.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

I wonder if it just moved up the timing. I suspect Sherman may have done his own inquiries as to why things were the way they were, and the answers alone were enough to convince him a change was in order.

Maybe Dayton's thin-skinned, defensive reaction -- days after the story came out, after he'd had time to digest it and consider his response (with the coaching of Sam Mellinger) -- told Sherman not to wait until after the season.

That speculation is still alive.

Probably it.

[nychief]

Nightingale indicated it is rumored that Moore refused to fire ppl… and that forced Sherman’s hand.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by tk13

Man they were flat out killing the Royals on MLB Network this morning. Writers, former players, etc. all saying this was handled poorly especially for someone who is as respected as Dayton. That was interesting.

Both things can be true:

1) Moore did an amazing job resurrecting the Royals franchise from where it was when he took over. Those first 10 years on the job are a fairy tale.

He rebuilt the organization from the ground up, including its reputation. He scrubbed the "cheap" Royals approach (where administrative employees needed Director-level approval to order things like pens and office supplies). He built an international scouting team, and he rebuilt their scouting team into a really great group. And then he pulled those things together to develop an incredible, deep farm system that he then cashed in with a great 3-year run.

And then he went for it with his core teams in 2016 and 2017. To his credit.

2) Moore did not adapt well to changes in baseball talent acquisition and development. Spend and throw money at athletic traits is no longer the way to go about it. His core tendencies (loyalty and trust in the process) became liabilities.

He got a chance to rebuild it again. And the year he pointed to as the year it would start succeeding failed, HARD, in large part because the pitching development side of the organization continued to be a liability and let down the efforts. And the coaching staff he picked didn't make it better, and looks to be making it worse.

The comments in response to the Athletic article last week kind of crystallize the picture that Moore is someone who has just been passed by the times, who hasn't stayed up on trends, and who is also oblivious to that.

If it's true he was asked what staffing changes he was going to make to fix it, and his answer was "none, these are the right people, and I trust them to get it right this time." that just hammers it home even more.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by nychief

Nightingale indicated it is rumored that Moore refused to fire ppl… and that forced Sherman’s hand.

There's a part of me that wonders if he vetoed a bunch of things Picollo wanted to do and that factored in.

[penguinz]

DM should have been fired the day he said that finishing above 500 was like winning the WS.

Seemed like every time he spoke this season he said stuff just as, if not more, ignorant.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by nychief

Nightingale indicated it is rumored that Moore refused to fire ppl… and that forced Sherman’s hand.

Yeah, that's ****ing embarrassing if it's truthful.