***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.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard

Jonathan Bowlan is still considered a prospect?

Why would he not be? Because of the Tommy John surgery?

He was dominating before the injury and on track to debut in the majors. He's got a lot of things to appreciate.

[Fansy the Famous Bard]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Why would he not be? Because of the Tommy John surgery?

He was dominating before the injury and on track to debut in the majors. He's got a lot of things to appreciate.

He's been around for what 5 years now? And in that time he hasn't really pitched all that much. He's 25 and hasn't made it past High A ball. Just hard to get excited about someone that didn't pitch but 17 innings last year. Way too small a sample size of success as a 24 yr old in High A. Sure there are things to still like about the guy, but there are quite a bit more guys in the system i'd consider richer prospects than Bowlan that didn't get listed.

[BWillie]

I guess it's Royals or bust now - if they even play baseball. I hope they wait to bring the kids up instead of start them right away. Get that service time. yeah I'm that guy.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Fansy the Famous Bard

He's been around for what 5 years now? And in that time he hasn't really pitched all that much. He's 25 and hasn't made it past High A ball. Just hard to get excited about someone that didn't pitch but 17 innings last year. Way too small a sample size of success as a 24 yr old in High A. Sure there are things to still like about the guy, but there are quite a bit more guys in the system i'd consider richer prospects than Bowlan that didn't get listed.

He started last season at AA and made 4 starts there before his elbow popped. Definitely has made it past High A.

He was not as advanced as Jonathan Lynch or Singer or Bubic in that 2018 draft class, so he was always a level behind them. That and the injury and COVID delayed him a bit. Would have been in the majors last season had he stayed healthy.

TINSTAAPP, of course. But assuming he comes back strong from TJ (no indications he isn't or shouldn't) he's still very intriguing/exciting.

[WhawhaWhat]

Keith Law has his top 100 prospects out today. Adley Rutschman with the Orioles is #1 and Bobby Witt Jr is #2. Royals have 4 in his top 100.

https://theathletic.com/3074113/2022...chman-at-no-1/

2. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals
Age: 22 | 6-1 | 200 pounds
Bats: Right | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 2 in 2019

Previous ranking: No. 27

This was as close a call between the top two prospects that I can recall having, probably since my No. 1 and 2 were named Mike and Bryce before the 2011 season — and having Witt second here is no slight to him. Witt destroyed Double-A and Triple-A pitching last year as a 21-year-old with just 37 games of experience outside of high school, all of that coming in the Arizona Rookie League in 2019. He did go to the Royals’ alternate site in 2020, gaining significant experience against older pitching — many of them players who would appear in the majors for Kansas City in 2021 — which may have helped him progress despite the lack of actual games. He also came into power sooner than I expected, with 33 homers on the season, half coming in Double A with the minor-league ball, so this wasn’t some Triple-A mirage.

Witt’s tools package is among the best in the game: He’s at least a 70 runner, has an 80 arm, has plus power, and his hands and feet make him a plus glove at shortstop. There’s some thought he might outgrow the position in time, though that’s hardly a lock. Witt’s father, the former Rangers starter and No. 3 pick in 1985, has a similar frame and did not become overly broad or heavy, even in retirement. It’s possible the Royals would move Witt Jr. to accommodate another shortstop, but I see his future on defense as similar to the career so far of Carlos Correa. The majority of scouts thought Correa would outgrow the position, but he has stayed lean and been an above-average defender throughout his major-league tenure. The one knock here, and it is a small one, is that Witt has some swing and miss in his game, with a tendency to get too long and overrotate just a little — something he may very well improve once he has a few hundred at bats in the majors under his belt. Right now, it’s the only separator between him and Rutschman. They both belong in the majors now and both have MVP-level upside.

27. MJ Melendez, C, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 190 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
Drafted: No. 52 in 2017

Previous ranking: Unranked

The Royals saw their plate discipline numbers do a 180 across the system last year, and Melendez was one of the main beneficiaries of their new emphasis on hitting plans for their hitters. Melendez has always had plus-plus power and a ridiculous arm, but was a hacker through the 2019 season when he hit .163/.260/.311 with a 39 percent strikeout rate in High A, a disastrous season that in hindsight only underscores how incredible his transformation has been. In 2021, he hit .288/.386/.625 between Double A and Triple A, and cut his strikeout rate to 22 percent. He struck out 50 fewer times in 112 more plate appearances. It’s a funny thing, but when you always hit the ball hard, and then you start making a lot more contact, you get really good results, like hitting 41 homers to lead all of minor league baseball. The Royals did help Melendez with his mechanics as well; he’s always been a busy hitter, with a high leg kick and huge hip rotation, but he’s calmed the latter part down enough so he’s no longer overrotating and his timing on his leg kick is better. Coming into some of his strength has helped him develop a stronger base and stay more upright through contact as well. Couple the mechanical adjustments with a whole new plan at the plate and you get a premium offensive catcher with that cannon arm. He can still be too energetic behind the plate but has improved his receiving in the last two years; now it’s going to be his bat that carries him.

54. Nick Pratto, 1B, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-1 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 14 in 2017

Previous ranking: Unranked

Pratto came off a 2019 season where he hit .191/.278/.310 with nine homers and a 35 percent strikeout rate as a first baseman in High A, and the only thing keeping him from ex-prospect status was his youth. Two years and a swing overhaul later, Pratto is now very much a current prospect, hitting 36 homers in 2021 with a .383 OBP and an acceptable 29 percent strikeout rate, more than enough to have him profile as a potential everyday player right now. The Royals helped Pratto revamp his swing, eliminating some of the loop length that slowed his time to the ball and allowed him to drive the ball to the whole field instead of just his pull side. He has also vastly improved his awareness of the strike zone, part of the Royals’ system-wide overhaul of how they teach hitters to approach at-bats, although he can be too selective with pitches in the zone, and he’s always going to have some swing and miss in his game. He’s an above-average defender at first who should post high walk rates, helping him even if his batting averages aren’t great, and getting him to 25-30 homers a year.

90. Asa Lacy, LHP, Kansas City Royals
Age: 23 | 6-4 | 215 pounds
Bats: Left | Throws: Left
Drafted: No. 4 in 2020

Previous ranking: 30

Lacy’s pro debut was a disaster: he walked 41 men in 52 innings, 17.3 percent of batters faced, before the Royals shut him down in late July to deal with a muscle injury in his shoulder; it didn’t require surgery but may explain the sudden loss of the strike zone. His stuff looked as good as ever, as he was up to 99, sitting mid to upper 90s, with a 55 to 60 slider and changeup that would show plus, with that last pitch good enough to give him a reverse platoon split. He looked better in the Arizona Fall League, with similar stuff and just one outing in four where he had control issues, but there’s still reasonable doubt whether he’ll return to the kind of control he showed as an amateur, when the Royals made him the No. 3 overall pick in 2020 (and he was good enough to merit discussion at No. 1). If he does, he’ll be a top-50 prospect again, maybe even top 20, with ace stuff from the left side and a big, durable build.

[gblowfish]

IF there is baseball....
Oh, and Vinnie Pasquantino sounds like a mob enforcer!

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

IF there is baseball....
Oh, and Vinnie Pasquantino sounds like a mob enforcer!

So does Frank Mozzicato!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[poolboy]

Carlos Rodon...sign him Bart

[Ocotillo]

When you finally snap a curveball off right�� pic.twitter.com/Gu1B0DzkWg

— Asa Lacy (@The_Ace35) February 5, 2022

[Ocotillo]

Your attention please:@BwittJr hits ��s & kicks ��s pic.twitter.com/ciygogh2g6

— Jake Eisenberg (@JakeEisenberg_) February 4, 2022

[dallaschiefsfan]

Keith Law's farm system rankings are posted at The Athletic. Frustratingly, the Dodgers sit atop of the rankings. Just think about that. The franchise that can most afford to say "screw the luxury tax" and outbid for whatever player they want is also the franchise that's most stocked with young talent.

That said, even with all our pitchers that graduated from the farm system last year, Law has us moving up from 15 to 7.

7. Kansas City Royals
Last year: No. 15

We are not talking about the seismic change in Kansas City’s offensive approach in the minors last year. It went from an 8.3 percent walk rate from hitters on its four full-season affiliates in 2019 to a 10.9 percent walk rate at those four levels last year – a jump of nearly a third. It’s the result of a top-down decision to change how the organization teaches hitters to approach at-bats, and it worked wonders. It may have saved the careers of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, it took Bobby Witt Jr. to the next level as a prospect, and it elevated several second-tier prospects to give them a chance to be regulars. The system’s weakness is now on the pitching side, in part the result of graduating so many arms to the majors in the last two years – the college pitchers they took with their first four picks in 2018 all lost rookie status in that period – but it began to replenish with two high-upside high school arms in the 2021 class. That change on the hitting side was long overdue, but its effects were immediate and are going to show up on the major-league roster this year.

EDIT: FWIW, we're the top AL Central farm system, with Cleveland right behind us at 8, Detroit at 12 and Minni at 18 and Chi at 30.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Ocotillo

When you finally snap a curveball off right�� pic.twitter.com/Gu1B0DzkWg

— Asa Lacy (@The_Ace35) February 5, 2022

That's good. Maybe he won't suck ass this year.

[Infidel Goat]

Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan

Keith Law's farm system rankings are posted at The Athletic. Frustratingly, the Dodgers sit atop of the rankings. Just think about that. The franchise that can most afford to say "screw the luxury tax" and outbid for whatever player they want is also the franchise that's most stocked with young talent.

That said, even with all our pitchers that graduated from the farm system last year, Law has us moving up from 15 to 7.

7. Kansas City Royals
Last year: No. 15

We are not talking about the seismic change in Kansas City’s offensive approach in the minors last year. It went from an 8.3 percent walk rate from hitters on its four full-season affiliates in 2019 to a 10.9 percent walk rate at those four levels last year – a jump of nearly a third. It’s the result of a top-down decision to change how the organization teaches hitters to approach at-bats, and it worked wonders. It may have saved the careers of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, it took Bobby Witt Jr. to the next level as a prospect, and it elevated several second-tier prospects to give them a chance to be regulars. The system’s weakness is now on the pitching side, in part the result of graduating so many arms to the majors in the last two years – the college pitchers they took with their first four picks in 2018 all lost rookie status in that period – but it began to replenish with two high-upside high school arms in the 2021 class. That change on the hitting side was long overdue, but its effects were immediate and are going to show up on the major-league roster this year.

EDIT: FWIW, we're the top AL Central farm system, with Cleveland right behind us at 8, Detroit at 12 and Minni at 18 and Chi at 30.

This was the post I was duplicating. When you consider the 2018 pitchers in conjunction with this ranking, the future would appear to be bright...

[ROYC75]

I'm excited for this coming season, the young kids should mesh well with the vet's.

[Ocotillo]

Trevor Bauer will not face any criminal charges in the LA court system, sources tell The Athletic. Bauer's active investigation by MLB remains open.

— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) February 8, 2022