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4-8 eh? Back to the minors..
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| 4-8 eh? Back to the minors.. |
| 04.17.05 (8:34 pm) [edit] |
Since the major league team kind of stinks its time to look at the future and what available parts are being honed down in the farm system.
We'll start this off with a semi-regular prospect ranking that will be affected by the performance of royals prospects in the short term
1. Billy Butler: (3B/DH High-A High Desert)
Batting well above .400 with an OPS in excess of 1.200, he's already drawn 6 BB's too. Top 50 prospect and will make a push for the best bat in the minors by the end of the season.
2. Justin Huber:(1B AA Wichita)
Huber has 12 walks in less than 40 plate appearances, he's gotten on base more than half the time and has held his own at first base as a defender.. Should be in the majors(Debatable Top 100 prospect)
3. Andres Blanco:(SS AAA Omaha)
Blanco has rocketed up my rankings by actually hitting a homerun. His overall offensive numbers aren't good but of his 8 hits this season, 3 have gone for extra bases. If he can even sniff a .400 slugging percentage he'll be a valuable regular.
4. Michael Aviles:(SS AA Wichita)
Tools, Tools, Tools.. That's what scouts are. I've seen Aviles and he is a little stocky for a SS, not particularly fast with a solid if unspectacular arm. But man does he hit. Aviles is batting .412 with a 1:1 BB:K ratio and an OPS above 1.000. He'll hit more than 40 doubles and has a shot at 50. His start at AA has been nothing short of impressive.
5. Dusty Hughes:(LHP High-A High Desert)
Hughes is classified as a finesse lefty who touches 90 with his fastball but excels at pitching inside. Up to this point in his career he had been extremely successful without striking out a phenomenal number of hitters
So far: 17.2 IP 21 K 6 BB 2 HR 3.09 ERA
The california league is a hitter's haven. Its the kind of league that eats up finesse pitchers with .300 averages on balls in play. Hughes early success and K buffet are extremely encouraging signs.
6. Ambriorix Burgos:(Relief Pitcher AA Wichita)
Burgos could be near the top if he was doing this as a starter but 12 K's in 6.0 IP with 2 BB and 0 hits allowed will do. Dominance personified. (He's being used as a 2 inning closer)
7. Donald Murphy:(2B AA Wichita)
Wichita has a lot of promising prospects, Murphy is batting .300 while drawing BB's, showing pop, and playing solid defense. He'll finish with a season almost identical to Gotay's AA campaign last year. It's up to Allard Baird to figure out what to do with these two.
8. Mitch Maier:(OF High-A High Desert)
Maier had a decent half season at Burlington and a highly disappointing 2nd half at Wilmington. A strong start and promotion to AA were crucial to keep his prospect status lofty. With 6 BB's against only 6 K's, an average of .351 and a slugging percentage above .500 he has done just that.
9. Chad Santos:(1B AAA Omaha)
Santos is 24, which is a little old, but not too old. He has performed adequately at each level while young for a lot of them. He's drawn 5 walks already and has a slugging of .714 while hitting .343. This could be his breakout season as a slugger. Then again it could be a sample size fluke. He's shown power before, if he continues to show an increased ability to draw a BB then he will have value as a platoon 1B or bench pinch hitter.
10. Billy Buckner( RHP low-A Burlington)
Buckner was the least touted of the moneyball trio including Howell & Campbell but he has had the best sabermetric start with an 11:0 K:BB ratio in 10.1 IP. He also has the best fastball touching the low-90s.. I'd like to see him promoted soon.
11. JP Howell(LHP High-A High Desert)
Howell has had an interesting start in the confines of High A. He continues to record an insane number of groundballs and has struck out 11 hitters in 10.1 IP. Unfortunately he has walked 9 guys and allowed 2 homeruns. His ERA remains strong at 3.48 but the walks have to come down and he has to limit the HR's through his groundball rate.(His ranking could go down if he doesn't improve in those areas)
12. Matt Campbell(LHP low-A Burlington)
Campbell struggled mightily in limited duty last year.. probably due to fatigue. He's flashed his big time curve with 10 K's in 12.0 IP and a 2.25 ERA
13. Chris Lubanski(High A High Desert)
With a caveat. Lubanski has hit for massive power with an ISO SLG over .300. But he hasn't hit for average or drawn BB's. This guy could go all Lastings Milledge on the minors but I'd prefer to see a more disciplined approach at the plate. At least he's not overmatched.
14. Jason Kaanoi(RHP High A High Desert)
The worm-killer continues to do that despite ugly peripherals he has a sub 2.00 ERA so far this season.
15. Mario Lisson(SS Low-A Burlington)
Lisson is a toolsy disciplined hitter.. Weird. He hasn't shown a ton of power but he's pretty young in an ugly pitcher's league. 8BB's in 32 PA's with a solid average? Good enough.
When you consider the talent that's been promoted to the show this season, you realize how productive the farm system has become.
1. Gotay
2. Teahen
3. Bautista
4. Sisco(Rule V I know.. not promoted)
All of these guys should conceivably be in AAA and would add tremendous depth to our overall minor league picture. The encouraging starts of most of our solid prospects is a definite plus. Some guys have struggled like Shane Costa but overall the system is raising its early value.
This next draft is crucial as our system is flush with contributors and regulars but short on superstars other than Butler. We need to draft an impact player at #2 and fill the lower tiers with more potential stars. Right now the royals system is in the #14-17 range in MLB. That doesn't sound great but in 2001 I'd consider us to have had the worst farm system in all of baseball or close to it. The last 3 drafts have done a lot to restock the system. One more solid draft should put us in the top 10 or possibly top 5 with solid development from this year's prospects.
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