*****Official 2025 Royals Season Repository Thread*****

[SithCeNtZ]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don’t think I agree with any one approach te ding to produce AAAA players, Royals are otherwise.

Guys who fall into that category typically are guys who have a fatal flaw or two that major leaguers can exploit at high levels of consistency, but players in the minors cannot.

A pitcher who can’t throw his breakers for strikes, ever.

A hitter who can’t handle a specific location or a specific pitch in a location. Etc.

The minor leagues are filled with them, because baseball is really, really hard.

I'm going to have to disagree significantly n regards to hitting. Pitching is another thing entirely so I won't go into that here, but hitting we absolutely do.

The Royals have always prioritized defense and athleticism over anything else with picks not high in the first round, of which those players are usually 5 tool guys anyway. Get beyond that and let me tell you the story of nearly every single guy we draft: "good to great defense, athletic, could play multiple positions, could hit for solid average, hope to develop power". And when your strongest traits are defense and athleticism, those generally don't fall off when being promoted. So we promote guys with a nice defensive floor and we just hope they can figure out hitting, which leads to tons and tons of how we talk about Kyle Isabel right now: "well if he could just hit more then..."

The royals best OF Non-high first rounder prospect listed on MLB top 30 is, wait for it, a second round light hitting OF who is called "defense first" player(Roccaforte). I'm shocked. Tylor Gentry who we just called up: "one of the best arms in the system and above average fielder. Needs to find more consistency at the plate". Javier Vaz: "plus runner good defender. Zero power good contact hitter". It goes on and on.

You know what you almost never see? Offense first guys. "This guy can hit but can't defend" guys. Those guys are much more likely to bust in AA because their single skill can be stopped there. And we simply don't draft those kinds of hitters. So we never run out of these fringe guys who play good defense and if you squint you can see a serviceable player. That's why the Royals absolutely have more fringe utility players than other teams and why our minor league system is usually referred to as "deep but lacking star power" aka we have a bunch of possible utility guys who aren't terrible but can't hit enough to be a star most likely.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ

I'm going to have to disagree significantly n regards to hitting. Pitching is another thing entirely so I won't go into that here, but hitting we absolutely do.

The Royals have always prioritized defense and athleticism over anything else with picks not high in the first round, of which those players are usually 5 tool guys anyway. Get beyond that and let me tell you the story of nearly every single guy we draft: "good to great defense, athletic, could play multiple positions, could hit for solid average, hope to develop power". And when your strongest traits are defense and athleticism, those generally don't fall off when being promoted. So we promote guys with a nice defensive floor and we just hope they can figure out hitting, which leads to tons and tons of how we talk about Kyle Isabel right now: "well if he could just hit more then..."

The royals best OF Non-high first rounder prospect listed on MLB top 30 is, wait for it, a second round light hitting OF who is called "defense first" player(Roccaforte). I'm shocked. Tylor Gentry who we just called up: "one of the best arms in the system and above average fielder. Needs to find more consistency at the plate". Javier Vaz: "plus runner good defender. Zero power good contact hitter". It goes on and on.

You know what you almost never see? Offense first guys. "This guy can hit but can't defend" guys. Those guys are much more likely to bust in AA because their single skill can be stopped there. And we simply don't draft those kinds of hitters. So we never run out of these fringe guys who play good defense and if you squint you can see a serviceable player. That's why the Royals absolutely have more fringe utility players than other teams and why our minor league system is usually referred to as "deep but lacking star power" aka we have a bunch of possible utility guys who aren't terrible but can't hit enough to be a star most likely.

A AAAA guy is a AAAA guy. Whether he's a AAAA guy because his bat is a little short, or he's a AAAA guy because he doesn't have a position or he's a AAAA because he has power but strikes out too much or whatever.

The Royals do traditionally target guys who can run and play defense (part of that is the park. You can't exactly play guys in the corners who can't defend - look at how much of a liability Hunter Renfroe looks like). So their guys that don't quite make it fall into more of the same bucket.

I think they've changed up the approach a bit (Caglianone is not the type of player they have drafted in the past), so eventually we'll see the guys who aren't quite good enough change up their approach.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

A AAAA guy is a AAAA guy. Whether he's a AAAA guy because his bat is a little short, or he's a AAAA guy because he doesn't have a position or he's a AAAA because he has power but strikes out too much or whatever.

The Royals do traditionally target guys who can run and play defense (part of that is the park. You can't exactly play guys in the corners who can't defend - look at how much of a liability Hunter Renfroe looks like). So their guys that don't quite make it fall into more of the same bucket.

I think they've changed up the approach a bit (Caglianone is not the type of player they have drafted in the past), so eventually we'll see the guys who aren't quite good enough change up their approach.

Be interesting how much they change when they get new ballpark. If its the Crown Center site, that would just scream left handed bats based on how a ballpark would be lined up.

[SithCeNtZ]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

A AAAA guy is a AAAA guy. Whether he's a AAAA guy because his bat is a little short, or he's a AAAA guy because he doesn't have a position or he's a AAAA because he has power but strikes out too much or whatever.

The Royals do traditionally target guys who can run and play defense (part of that is the park. You can't exactly play guys in the corners who can't defend - look at how much of a liability Hunter Renfroe looks like). So their guys that don't quite make it fall into more of the same bucket.

I think they've changed up the approach a bit (Caglianone is not the type of player they have drafted in the past), so eventually we'll see the guys who aren't quite good enough change up their approach.

Yeah I posted in last year's thread how happy I was they took Cags. It's a huge shift in priority, him vs Wetherholt. Past regimes take the other guy every time, but we went for upside, not floor. I don't agree on needing to prioritize defense. We have no idea if a player can out hit a lack of defense in the K because you have literally 0 players who even come close to that outcome. There has never been a player in my lifetime who couldn't play for the Royals because his defense wasn't good enough but he could hit. We gave up on Rooker immediately but I'd bet he would be fine if he hit for that power here.
Unfortunately we can't really say if this regime will truly make those changes going forward since we completely ignored hitters after Cags, unless you count a ninth round catcher and some late round fliers. Here's hoping next year is better.

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

A AAAA guy is a AAAA guy. Whether he's a AAAA guy because his bat is a little short, or he's a AAAA guy because he doesn't have a position or he's a AAAA because he has power but strikes out too much or whatever.

The Royals do traditionally target guys who can run and play defense (part of that is the park. You can't exactly play guys in the corners who can't defend - look at how much of a liability Hunter Renfroe looks like). So their guys that don't quite make it fall into more of the same bucket.

I think they've changed up the approach a bit (Caglianone is not the type of player they have drafted in the past), so eventually we'll see the guys who aren't quite good enough change up their approach.

I thought Gavin Cross was supposed to be a big bat outfielder? I haven't heard much about him lately.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

I thought Gavin Cross was supposed to be a big bat outfielder? I haven't heard much about him lately.

We talked about him a few pages back.

He has looked a lot better recently. Got Rocky Mountain fever from a tick bite a few years back and it's possible his suckage in 22 and 23 was related to that/recovery.

There's still a chance there. Early in the minor league season, but scouting reports from the spring seemed to indicate his pop had bounced back.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

We talked about him a few pages back.

He has looked a lot better recently. Got Rocky Mountain fever from a tick bite a few years back and it's possible his suckage in 22 and 23 was related to that/recovery.

There's still a chance there. Early in the minor league season, but scouting reports from the spring seemed to indicate his pop had bounced back.

That shit is no joke. My old shop teacher/basketball coach from high school got it several years back after a hunting trip. He was wheelchair bound for a bit and had to relearn how to walk. He’s doing much better with a walker now, and granted, a much older man, but yeah, it can be quite debilitating even for a young man. Cross is definitely on the radar.