Pratto really does look good so far. If Witt wasn't so otherworldly, people would be talking more about him. His OPS is 1.8 this spring, granted against lesser pitching....
The organization is absolutely loaded with pitching prospects and really that may be the first time I can say that in 40 years of following the Royals. I can see a lot of motorcycle trips to NW Arkansas and Omaha in my near future.
It really is crazy the guys who are second and third tier prospects who would have been toward the top of the list in previous years. They've done an impressive job collecting talent. Hopefully they can turn enough into big leaguers to make it work.
Yep, a couple of years ago, we were super excited about Richard Lovelady.... Now guys like Carlos Hernandez, Haake, Heasley, Tillo, Del Rosario, Murdock, Marklund, Zerpa aren't even on the list. Great arms that pass the eye test. Eager to find out which ones pan out in MiLB and stay healthy, since with Covid etc we don't have high minors track record of success on hardly any of these guys. Its an exciting year for the first time in several years, a competitive MLB team and a system brimming with hope. Its easy to dump on an organization that went 30 years with one winning season, and a long history of failing to develop pitchers, but with the 14-15 run, and the recent draft successes, the organization does seem to have learned some things about identifying and developing players. Or maybe they just got lucky, either way, I'll take it.
Believe me when I say that leaving all those names off were really difficult for me. I even thought about going 30 deep, but decided 15 was enough. It's unbalanced, but the pitching is definitely legit.
The Royals becoming a contender depends on the pitching developing before the hitting gets too old. Whit, Dozier, Sal, etc. - and even tho they are short on numbers of prospects on the offensive side, they need to a couple of them to turn out- Witt being the real deal... maybe Isbell turns out to be David DeJesus or Benintendi, Pratto.... Then its a matter of trading that pitching currency for offense as gaps come open. Baseball is such a funny game. There were 24 organizations who thought they picked a better player than Mike Trout in 2009. More depth is always better for obvious reasons, but sometimes its just a matter of luck and hitting the lottery on just one or two picks.
The thing to remember is that the organization revamped their offensive development and we haven't seen a single game since then. It might be that they've figured out how to get more out of their offensive prospects and they actually are in better shape on that side than we think, but we just don't know yet. But yes, they'll have to make trades. It's simple roster math, like I also wrote about last week (I know this sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, but I swear I'm not really!). There's only so many spots and there seem to be more players than spots available, so they'll have to make some tough choices.
Wilmington was such a death valley for hitting. I'm glad we no longer have the High A affiliate there. It amplified the success of some of the pitchers while really hurting Melendez, Pratto, and Mattias. I went back and looked. Moose only had a .718 OPS there while Hosmer struggled enormously his first go around there only to dominate the next season before being promoted.
He's still in the system, but he's pretty much always been organizational filler. He is a good athlete, so it could have come together, but it really hasn't, so he's just hanging around. Not really much of a prospect.
Pratto really does look good so far. If Witt wasn't so otherworldly, people would be talking more about him. His OPS is 1.8 this spring, granted against lesser pitching....
The organization is absolutely loaded with pitching prospects and really that may be the first time I can say that in 40 years of following the Royals. I can see a lot of motorcycle trips to NW Arkansas and Omaha in my near future.
It really is crazy the guys who are second and third tier prospects who would have been toward the top of the list in previous years. They've done an impressive job collecting talent. Hopefully they can turn enough into big leaguers to make it work.
Yep, a couple of years ago, we were super excited about Richard Lovelady.... Now guys like Carlos Hernandez, Haake, Heasley, Tillo, Del Rosario, Murdock, Marklund, Zerpa aren't even on the list. Great arms that pass the eye test. Eager to find out which ones pan out in MiLB and stay healthy, since with Covid etc we don't have high minors track record of success on hardly any of these guys. Its an exciting year for the first time in several years, a competitive MLB team and a system brimming with hope. Its easy to dump on an organization that went 30 years with one winning season, and a long history of failing to develop pitchers, but with the 14-15 run, and the recent draft successes, the organization does seem to have learned some things about identifying and developing players. Or maybe they just got lucky, either way, I'll take it.
Believe me when I say that leaving all those names off were really difficult for me. I even thought about going 30 deep, but decided 15 was enough. It's unbalanced, but the pitching is definitely legit.
The Royals becoming a contender depends on the pitching developing before the hitting gets too old. Whit, Dozier, Sal, etc. - and even tho they are short on numbers of prospects on the offensive side, they need to a couple of them to turn out- Witt being the real deal... maybe Isbell turns out to be David DeJesus or Benintendi, Pratto.... Then its a matter of trading that pitching currency for offense as gaps come open. Baseball is such a funny game. There were 24 organizations who thought they picked a better player than Mike Trout in 2009. More depth is always better for obvious reasons, but sometimes its just a matter of luck and hitting the lottery on just one or two picks.
The thing to remember is that the organization revamped their offensive development and we haven't seen a single game since then. It might be that they've figured out how to get more out of their offensive prospects and they actually are in better shape on that side than we think, but we just don't know yet. But yes, they'll have to make trades. It's simple roster math, like I also wrote about last week (I know this sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, but I swear I'm not really!). There's only so many spots and there seem to be more players than spots available, so they'll have to make some tough choices.
Wilmington was such a death valley for hitting. I'm glad we no longer have the High A affiliate there. It amplified the success of some of the pitchers while really hurting Melendez, Pratto, and Mattias. I went back and looked. Moose only had a .718 OPS there while Hosmer struggled enormously his first go around there only to dominate the next season before being promoted.
Whatever happened to Travis Jones? I thought he was a great athlete who had the potential to play multiple positions. I don't see him listed anywhere.
He's still in the system, but he's pretty much always been organizational filler. He is a good athlete, so it could have come together, but it really hasn't, so he's just hanging around. Not really much of a prospect.
Thats kind of what I thought. I thought there was some unlocked power potential given his size but that never really happened either.
He's only 25, but at this point, I'd be surprised if we see much more out of him.
Is foster Griffin doing as well as it seems
Reports are good on him. He's up to AAA now.
I'm enjoying following the storm chasers kinda like 2011 2012