Kansas City Royals: 2018 Minor League Awards
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.