KANSAS CITY, MO - SEPTEMBER 16: Kansas City Royals first baseman Ryan O'Hearn (66) at bat during a MLB game between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals on September 16, 2018, at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Trevor Oakks throws in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday, July 4, 2018, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images) /
The 2018 season was the first of what will be a few rough ones for the Kansas City Royals as they begin a rebuild. The minors have already seen fruits.
As part of our continuing coverage at Call to the Pen of the minor leagues, we will be covering each organization’s top players for 2018. The coverage will go in reverse order of record. Today, we will look at the Kansas City Royals.
We are going to review the system’s leaders for each organization statistically, then choose one hitter and one pitcher to honor for every team. This will be primarily based on statistical performance, though some “age relative to level” could come into play, so a very impressive season from a 28-year-old in AA will rank below a nearly as impressive season from a 20-year-old at the same level.
After we review each organization’s hitter and pitcher of the year, we will close out October with Call To The Pen’s Minor League team of the year. That will lead into November starting our team top 10 prospect lists. In other words, there will be plenty of minor league content on the way at CTTP, so keep coming back for more each day this offseason!!
Kansas City Royals minor leagues
The Kansas City Royals built up one of the most enviable farm systems in the history of the game in the early 2010s before striking it big with back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014-2015, winning in 2015. Now that many of the pieces of those teams hit free agency and departed, the Royals’ financial situation requires building up that farm system again.
This was really the first year seeing the results of intentional “build” drafting done in 2017, a change in their drafting style. It’s led to what will be a very deep top 10, even if there isn’t an elite top-shelf prospect to head that list.
Before we offer up awards on the season, let’s take a look at the system’s statistical leaders:
Kansas City Royals Minor League Hitter of the Year: Nathan Eaton
Level(s): Advanced Rookie Idaho Falls Stats: .354/.427/.581, 66 G, 303 PA, 20 2B, 12 3B, 5 HR, 19 SB, 33/60 BB/K There were players from the 2018 draft class that made a huge splash, like Kyle Isbel, but no one had a draft season in 2018 like Nathan Eaton did. Taken in the 21st round out of VMI, Eaton wasn’t exactly expected to be a guy that the Royals could look to for future production, but opinions are already changing in Kansas City.
Eaton played multiple infield positions and pitched in college, and the Royals played him at second, third, center, and right with Idaho Falls after he was drafted. No matter where he played, one thing was evident – the kid has wheels!
Eaton receives some grades of 70 on his speed on the scouting 20 to 80 grade scale, and he showed that he’s not all speed with his production in the Pioneer League. Hell get his first shot at full-season ball in 2019, and if he continues producing, the Royals will find a position defensively for his exciting talent.
Runners-up
Very possibly the top position prospect in the Kansas City Royals system, Nick Pratto showed his value in numbers as well as scouting reports in 2018. Hitting with low-A Lexington, the lefty first baseman put up a .280/.343/.443 line but showed he was not just a plodding first baseman, exhibiting elite defensive instincts and showing his athletic ability with 33 doubles, 14 home runs, and 22 stolen bases. He did have a high strikeout rate that is of some concern, but for a 19-year-old, that’s an impressive season.
The Royals drafted Brewer Hicklen in the 7th round of the 2017 draft about of Alabama-Birmingham. The team chose to start him at low-A in 2018, and he worked his way to high-A over the course of the season. On the year, he hit .289/.357/.507 with 18 home runs and 35 steals between both A-ball levels.
Signed from Venezuela in 2010, Jecksson Flores has moved slowly up the Royals system while struggling to establish himself as a shortstop. The Royals removed that tag from Flores, and it seemed to allow his bat to explode, as he worked around the infield, showing well as a super utility man defensively and putting up one of the best stat lines in the system, slashing .314/.363/.440 with 31 doubles, 7 home runs, and 27 stolen bases, keeping his strikeout rate reasonable at 14%. Flores is likely a guy who is in the role he’s best suited for at the big league level, but with solid line drive power, speed, and defensive ability around the infield, he could be a valuable piece off the bench or as a 3-start-per-week sort of utility man.
When the Kansas City Royals drafted Frank Schwindel out of St. John’s in the 18th round in 2013, they assumed that he’d either move quickly or work his way out of the system within a few seasons. Instead, he was a productive hitter, but just never quite could take that next step with the bat. In 2018, he may have finally taken that step to some degree. While still not a rate that will pass at the big league level, Schwindel walked at a 6.12% rate in 2018, which was nearly double any full season of his career. Overall, Schwindell hit .286/.336/.506 with 38 doubles and 24 home runs for AAA Omaha, but he is going to be 27 midway through the 2019 season, so his future is in question in the organization, especially with the emergence of Ryan O’Hearn.
Kansas City Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year: Daniel Lynch
The Kansas City Royals used their immense draft capital in 2018 to focus on college players, specifically college pitching, taking college arms with their 5 picks in the first 2 rounds of the draft. One of the guys that many had talked about coming into the draft was Daniel Lynch, with teams in the middle of the first round discussing possibly taking Lynch in that range, so for the Royals to grab him at 34 was an excellent choice.
Lynch picked up a tick of velocity with a minor adjustment in his mechanics, and it unleashed a whole lot of potential in his left arm. Lynch was viewed by most as a back-end rotation piece as a command/control lefty coming out of Virginia, but with the uptick in velocity, his excellent secondary stuff is playing up further, and that elite command/control could propel him all the way to a potential #2 type of arm.
The Royals drafted J.C. Cloney from the University of Arizona in the 9th round of the 2017 draft. Used heavily in college, they were hoping to see the precision work of Cloney be able to play out by easing his arm into work this year, starting him in the Pioneer League. It was obvious that Cloney was ready for a new challenge, and he never slowed down, even in a playoff race, when brought up to Lexington. He finished the year with a 12-1 record, posting a 2.21 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP over 85 2/3 innings with a 19/68 BB/K ratio.
Signed out of Mexico, Marcelo Martinez made an impressive season debut this year in the Kansas City Royals system and was nip and tuck with Lynch for the top pitcher. Martinez is not a guy with overpowering raw stuff, but he locates well and sequences well, which will allow him big-time success at the lower levels, which he did, posting a 2.74 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and a 14/90 BB/K over 69 innings across three levels.
A small lefty out of Venezuela, Lugo was a late signee that made his debut in 2018 with the Royals system at age 22. He pushed through three levels, posting a 1.72 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and a crazy 9/72 BB/K ratio over 47 innings. Lugo lives strongly on a fastball/breaker mix right now, but he has flashed some feel for a change, so he could end up being a guy that develops into a late-blooming starter or even into a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen if he can continue developing and building on his 2018 success.
Next. Potential Adam Jones destinations. dark
So, Kansas City Royals fans should enjoy this process because it’s started strong and should offer some hope quickly while also plugging plenty of depth into the system for a sustained run as well.
