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| Minor League System: What's important? The draft stupid.. |
| 05.23.05 (9:17 am) [edit] |
The Royals minor league system is in an ok state. Massive promotions in the past two seasons have drained it of talent but it is still floating in the middle range of MLB clubs. The upcoming 2005 draft and the selection of either Justin Upton or Alex Gordon will set the tone for the Royals organization over the next 5-7 years. This season has seen a mix of positives and negatives in the royals minor leagues.
Positive
1. RHP Luis Cota: Those 'analysts' who have accused the royals of having a cheap draft philosophy tend to ignore a lot of evidence. The record bonus handed to Jeff Austin when the royals had the previous highest pick in the team's history, and more recently, the 1.05 million handed to a draft and follow 10th rounder named Luis Cota before last season's draft. The money was well spent.
Cota is annihilating the Midwest League as a 19 yr old.
45 IP
31 H
9 R
22 BB
52 K
0 HR
Cota works in the low to mid 90's with excellent breaking stuff. He was rated as a potential first rounder leading up to last year's draft. Cota will be promoted to High Desert soon and will wear the mantle of phenom before long.
2. LHP J.P. Howell, the moneyball pitcher from last season's draft opened the year by absolutely dominating the Coors Field like atmosphere of High Desert. Registering more than a K per inning and a sub 2.00 ERA. He was promoted to Wichita just this past week where he had an ok outing, getting hit a little but still striking out 5 guys in 5 IP. He may be the most groundball oriented pitcher in the organization.
3. 1B Kila Kaaihue, Kaaihue was drafted for his defense, power, and plate discipline. The only thing holding him back up to this point has been an ability to hit for average. This season, in High Desert, he is hitting .371 and actually has a higher OBP than superstar Billy Butler. His 1.000+ OPS should translate into positive numbers at Wichita and Omaha over the next season and a half. Trade bait.
4. 3B/who cares? Billy Butler: Butler draws BB's and is slugging over .600. He's got a shot to be the most complete offensive player in K.C. history.
5. OF Shane Costa: The most advanced OF in the Royals system overcame another ridiculously unlucky and sluggish start to get his numbers up to .268/.331/.431. His power is beginning to show up and he is a very, very polished hitter. He's athletic enough to be a CF but will play in a corner spot. I didn't expect him to get his numbers to acceptable levels for another month. He has a real decent shot at becoming a solid corner OF for the royals.
Other players exceeding expectations or holding their own:
6. Donald Murphy 2B, Wichita
7. Mike Aviles SS, Wichita
8. Mitch Maier LF, High Desert
9. Adam Donachie C, High Desert
10. John Gragg III P, High Desert
11. Mario Lisson SS, Burlington
12. Billy Buckner RHP, Burlington
13. Greg DeHoyos P, Burlington
14. Yovany D'Amico P, Burlington
15. Chad Blackwell P, Burlington
Other assets:
1. Justin Huber is destroying AA, because he should be in the majors, hopefully at a corner OF spot someday.
2. Leo Nunez has rocketed to the majors and pitched really well with very good stuff in limited duty
3. Andy Sisco will be back at AAA next year as a starter with an extremely high ceiling.
4. Ambiorix Burgos has been FAST-TRACKED to the majors and has shown an electric arm with mixed results.
5. Knuckleballer Ryan Jensen won his first start against the Cardinals yesterday.
DRAFT ALEX GORDON!
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| Sorry for the lack of updates.. |
| 05.23.05 (8:53 am) [edit] |
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Finals, Graduation, Trip to Illinois.. Moving in.. Moving out.. I've been mildly busy
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| I'm still alive.. |
| 05.23.05 (8:52 am) [edit] |
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