Royals Minor League Daily Tap Sun April 10

2 wins a game suspended by rain that was tied and a loss in the late innings are the results from yesterdays games. The big club had an outstanding day as well with Bruce Chen and the outstanding bullpen paced a 3-1 win over Detroit.

Daily Tap Hitter of the Day Rey Navarro 4-5 2b, HR, SB

Daily Tap Pitcher of the Day Leondy Perez 7 IP 4 H 3 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER

Cougars Recap
Kane County let Jimmy Nelson off the ropes as he was having trouble throwing stikes but a couple Cougar double plays limited the damage to just run thru 6. In the 7th a Gerard Hall mental error followed by a Leondy Perez throwing error started the inning and helped the Rattlers take the lead 2-1. The Rattlers would tack on a couple more runs in the 8th would provide enough cushion for a two out rally by the Cougars to come up one run short. 4-3 tough luck loss for Perez.
Alex Llanos 2-3 2b, BB

Blue Rocks Recap
More of the same from Tyler Sample as the big righty again had trouble controlling the strikezone allowing 4 walks while only striking out 1 over 4.2 innings while allowing 3 hits. He left with the lead but also 2 runners on base when Justin Marks who KC got in the David DeJesus took over and promptly gave up a running scoring hit and a 3 run HR to Mike Olt giving up the Rocks lead. Marks would settle down from there working 3.1 innings in total striking out 3 while not allowing another hit. The game would stay at 5-4 until the top of the 9th when Rey Navarro would tie it at 5-5, soon after the game was suspended due to rain where they will likely pick it up today.
Thru 9 Rey Navarro 4-5 2b, HR

Naturals Recap
The Naturals trailed most of the night until a nice rally in the 7th lead by a Derrick Robinson RBI triple who later scored on a sac fly by Christian Colon to give the Naturals a 5-3 lead. Eric Basurto would give up the lead over the next two frames allowing a run in each. With the game tied Mario Lisson would step in and deliver a walk off Home Run in the bottom of the 9th for the defending Texas league champs.
Lisson 2-3 HR, BB 2 RBI Bianchi 2-4 3b, HR

Storm Chasers Recap
Danny Duffy delivered the best starting performances of the series so far for the Chasers as he went 5 innings giving up 7 H 1 BB 3R 2 ER with 4 Ks. Duffy was pitching in the low to mid 90s throughout the night while mixing in his change up and curveball extremely well. He threw his change up at the beginning of counts, down in counts and as a strikeout pitch as well. Besides one mistake from Jerry Sands (co-minor lg HR leader in '10) a HR to RF he did everything you want to do out of a starter. He was followed up well by Kevin Pucetas who pitched 4 innings of 3 hit ball allowing 0 runs and striking out 4. Pucetas kept the game knotted long enough for the Isotopes to make some errors in the 10th inning as the Chasers took advantage to the tune of seven tenth inning runs to take the victory 10-4.
Lance Zawadzki 2-5 HR,2b,BB 4 RBI, Eric Hosmer 2-4 BB

Omaha Storm Chasers Vin Mazzaro
vs
Albuquerque Isotopes Tim Redding

Mazzaro was the major piece in the Royals trade of David DeJesus. Mazzaro won't be in Omaha long as he'll be the big league starter as soon as one is needed. Vin through parts of two major league seasons has been a FB/Slider guys mixing in his change about 10% of the time according to Fangraphs. His fastball is said to have some sink to it but those results have yet to come up in the majors where he is only delivering groundballs at a 41% clip. He will have to fit in as a fulltime 3-4 starter for the Royals to draw a win in the DDJ trade.

Hard to believe Redding is only 33 to me maybe that's because I turn 33 today but he's seemingly been in the league forever in my mind. The journeyman righthander didn't make it up to the majors last season after making a combined 50 starts from '08 and '09 and will be looking to try to win a job this year if the Dodgers have problems in the rotation. The righty who has made 4.9M in his career has a four pitch mix that is fastball/slider heavy but he does mix in the curve and change nearly 10% of the time. His fastball was his top pitch in 2008 and 2009 despite only averaging in the high 80s.
I like the Chasers chances against any righty without an elite fastball.


NW Arkansas Naturals Heath Rollins
vs
Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros) Dallas Keuchel

Rollins was drafted in the 11th round out of the 2006 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays and was picked up by the Royals this offseason of waivers. Rollins is a pitchability type lefty who has a four pitch mix of FB, slider, CB and CU. He was working on a cutter while in Arizona as well. Mark Davis seemed to like him quite a bit while I was watching him but with a high 80s FB he'll need to survive by attacking the zone and keeping hitters off balanced.

Keuchel is the 23rd ranked prospect in the Astros system based mostly on what he used to be as opposed to what he is currently. He was picked in the 7th round out of college due to his low 90s fastball and potential above average curve but since being drafted his velocity has dipped to the low to mid 80s and his curve while solid versus lower competition is believed to be fringy at best. It's tough for any pitcher to survive with that type of fastball without teaming it with some type of plus pitch somewhere which it doesn't appear Keuchel has.

Wilmington Blue Rocks Jake Odorizzi
at
Myrtle Beach Pelican Barrett Loux

One of the prize pieces in the Zack Greinke deal makes his first start for a Royals affiliate. Odorizzi was rated the #1 Brewers prospect by Baseball America following the Brett Lawrie trade and is said to be a poor mans Zack Greinke in his own right. Odorizzi has been able to pitch well in previous levels primarily off his fastball and his command of it but will have to start mixing in a plus offspeed pitch this season something he hasn't had to do in the past. His curveball is said to have plus potential.

Loux was the 6th overall pick in the 2010 draft but when he failed a physical the DBacks decided to let him walk unsigned. MLB decided to do Loux a favor and declare him a Free Agent where he was signed by a already deep farm system. It was a surprise Loux was taken where he is despite his size (6'5 220) and solid FB (90-92 touchin 95) he didn't have a plus offspeed offering and was considered a late 1st rd/sandwich rd type talent. Loux had elbow surgery to remove bone chips in 2009 and while he hasn't ran into problems many teams backed off for because of that same reason which was confirmed with the failed physical.

Kane County Cougars Keaton Hayenga
vs
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Del Howell

Hayenga is back after a terrible 2010 after impressing many Royals scouts during instructs the previous season. Hayenga was absolutely beaten like a drum in 2010 allowing 130 hits over 105.2 IP while only striking out 43 as compared to 47 walks with a 6.13 ERA. It's hard for me to believe he can improve enough to deserve a spot on the staff but KC will give him that chance.

Bernies Crew Breakdown of Del Howell : Howell really struggled last season for the Timber Rattlers, posting a 4.68 ERA and walking almost as many batters as he struck out (66 strikeouts to 61 walks). The premium stuff he showed at the University of Alabama was largely non-existent -- though he still does have the ability to throw a low-90s fastball and a nasty slider. It was simply not always there . . . and sometimes rarely there.

Howell needs more consistent mechanics, however, and more consistency on the mound in general. The Brewers will probably move him to Brevard County next season due to the fact that he will be 23-years-old, but perhaps another season in Single-A would benefit him to regain his confidence in his abilities on the mound.

If you are a sucker for projection, though, Del Howell could be the right prospect for you in this competition. It is far too early to throw in the towel on the young man. He was a premium prospect during his time at Alabama for a reason. If you want to know anything about the Brewers Jim Breen and crew are nearly impossible to beat. You can find them at the link I listed abover or @Berniescrew via twitter

Royals Minor League Daily Tap

A couple Royals affiliates broke through for victories during the 2nd minor league day of the season as the Kane County Cougars and Northwest Arkansas Naturals each came out victorious.

Daily Tap Hitter of the Day Christian Colon 2-3 2b, BB, HBP, 2 SB, 2 RBI off to a great start and filling the box score.

Daily Tap Pitcher of the Day Mario Santiago 4 IP 2 H 5 K 0 BB

Game Recaps
Cougars Recap - A strong night with the bats helped the Cougars overcome some so-so pitching and shaky defense from the catching position. Alex Llanos paced the offense with a couple RBI and two extra base hits while scoring a run himself, Geulin Beltre had two more hits on the night while Brian Fletcher tossed in a two RBI double. On the mound Sugar Ray Marimon ran into trouble in the 5th inning and had to be relieved by Matt Mitchell who allowed all three runners he inherited to score he stopped the damage from there and worked one more inning striking out 3 in 2 innings while giving up 3 hits and 1 walk. Chase Boruff a non-drafted free agent worked the next two innings allowing a run while striking out four to cut the lead to one but Chaz Byrne closed it out in the 9th with 2 K's in a perfect inning. Matt Mitchell equaled his win total from last season in the victory. Brett Eibner left the game early with a thumb injury that he sustained while diving for a ball. He tweeted me that he didn't think it was broken.
Brett Eibner 1-3 Bb

Rocks Recap - Tim Melville the 24th rated prospect in my rankings struggled to begin the season again for the Rocks as he struggled to control the zone early giving up 3 walks and 8 hits over 4 innings while also allowing 3 runs. Those 3 runs would be all the Pelicans would needs as the punchless Blue Rocks managed only 6 baserunners (5 hits) for the game while striking out 16 times in the contest. Melville was touted by the organization to have improved his control and gotten better at controlling the running game two things he did poorly last year, both of which didn't see much improvement in this first game of the year.
Rey Navarro 1-3

Naturals Recap - John Lamb and Casey Kelly squared off in a matchup of highly touted starting pitchers but neither were able to take hold of this contest. Lamb it appeared still suffering from lower velocity (85-88 reported) due to a muscle strain was limited to 3 innings on the night giving up 4 hits, 2 walks while striking out 2 and allowing 2 runs to cross. Kelly didn't fair much better giving up 3 over 4.1 innings. The Naturals lead til late in the game when Patrick Keating gave up a 2 run HR to tie the game that eventually went to extra innings. In extras Salvador Perez drew a walk and was pinch ran for by Anthony Seratelli who eventually came around on a Nick Van Stratten RBI single. Lamb's velocity isn't much of a scare to me as it is well documented he's experienced this strain with his muscle, Keating on the other hand has experienced a velocity dip all spring going from mid 90s to low 90s. That type of dip out of a bullpen arm is huge and could really hurt his ability which looked to be at the top of the rung of bp arms in the system prior to the season.
Wil Myers 1-4 SB

Chasers Recap- The Chasers pitching again was knocked around with some more help from bad defense behind them. Moustakas made two more errors while Hosmer committed one also combined with the seven hits and six walks allowed lead to 10 Albuquerque runs which was a few too many for the Chasers offense to overcome. For the second night in a row the Chasers outhit the Isotopes but were less timely in their results.
Mike Moustakas 1-4 1 BB, Eric Hosmer 3-5 2b


Omaha Storm Chasers Danny Duffy
vs
Albuquerque Isotopes Randy Keisler

Danny gets his first start of the season after a spring in which his control was spotty at best. Having seen him a couple times this spring he definitely has the stuff to be a mid of the rotation or higher type starter at the major league level if he can harness that mid 90s fastball. Like Montgomery on Thursday night Duffy could learn that he needs to use the change up and curveball more against upper level competition especially in a high run environment like Albuquerque.

Keisler is a former Yankees 2nd rounder that has appeared in 55 major league games (20 starts) with little to no success. He's a lefty which means he could pitch in the minors for the next 20 years if he so desires. Control has always been Keislers problem as at his peak he had a low 90s fastball combined with an average change up but averaging 4.5/9 BB/9 is difficult to handle for someone without truly elite swing and miss stuff.

Storm Chasers need to salvage one game in this series but they are going to need to play better defense to get that handled.

NW Arkansas Naturals Will Smith
vs.
San Antonio Missions Jorge Reyes

Will Smith gets his first AA start of the season as he is trying to for the Naturals. Smith was impressive during the Futures game against the AAA squad changing speeds with his fastball while spotting his curve well. I look for his agressive strike throwing nature to lead to good results in AA this year with a possible move to AAA not far away.

Reyes started his college career about as well as one could hope earning the Most Outstanding player award during the 2007 College World Series as a freshman. From there he was pretty up and down posting a 7.08 ERA as a sophomore and the rebounding to a 4.20 his junior year. Being represented by Boras Corp didn't help his draft stock much as he fell to the 17th round where the Padres selected him. His college scouting report listed him as a fastball/slider guy with neither being above average and no third pitch to speak about. He seems to be no more than organizational filler at this point since he isn't listed in any of the BA, Friar Forecast or John Sickels list.

The Naturals have the better lineup and starting pitcher in this matchup.

Wilmington Blue Rocks Tyler Sample
vs
Myrtle Beach Pelicans Robert Erlin

Sample is one of the most intriguing prospects in the Royals in the system as he has some solid tools in terms of size and speed on the fastball but he just hasn't been able to keep the ball in the zone. Sample gets good downhill plane on his fastball which should lead to success if he can develop that control. I think Sample's future is as a bullpen guy myself so these first few starts should be big test on the season for the 6'7 righty. '10 Stats 121 IP 105 H 95 BB 115 SO 4.69 ERA

Erlin was a possible trade piece that the Royals could've been looking at when the Rangers were said to be hot on Greinke as he is one of the Rangers top pitching prospects. Erlin is a a crafty lefty who relies on pitchability and offspeed stuff as opposed to a overpowering fastball. Jason Parks at Texas Farm Review says that his change and curve both have plus potential while his fastball is average at best.

Blue Rocks lineup doesn't excite me much and I can't imagine too many games they'll be favored in.

Kane County Cougars Leondy Perez
vs
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Jimmy Nelson

Perez in his first start at the A ball level is a 2007 Dominican signee who struggled in his Pioneer league season last year despite a increase in strikeouts (10.17 K/9). Leondy gave up over a hit per inning for the Chukars, numbers that will need to decrease significantly to have any sort of success at the A ball level but as a 21 year old without much of any hype around him seems to be battling a few other Cougars starters for a shot in the rotation if and when the young guns arrive (Adam, Yambati, Ventura) in warmer weather.

Nelson is another of the Rattlers 2010 college draftees was ranked 10th by BA prior to the Odorizzi and Jeffress trades meaning he's comfortably ranked in their Top 10 currently. The big bodied right hander (6'6 245) was used as a reliever in Alabama and in his first season in the minor leagues. The Brewers have decided to switch the righty over to a starter in hopes of him discovering a third pitch to team with his plus fastball and slider. He'll likely get relieved by Manny Para who is on a rehab assignment for Milwaukee.

It's likely Eibner sits out because of the thumb injury which probably give the Rattlers the edge in this one.

The Royals look into the future and past to start the season

Typically a couple days away allows me to come down from excitement and not overreact to what I've seen as I never want to overreact or cloud my judgement but when it comes to Mike Montgomery I just can't seem to pace myself. I've seen him twice this spring once versus the Cincinnati Reds and then again in the Futures game and he's been lights out both times. 8 innings 2 hits 2 walks 7 K's and 1 run allowed during that time. On Saturday he sailed through a pretty solid AA lineup working 91-93 pretty consistently while blowing away Wil Myers in the 1st inning with a 96 mph fastball. He featured the fastball so there wasn't many changes or curves thrown to report on I'll sure I get to see many more of those as the season goes on but from what I've seen so far he definitely has the makings of a #1 who I think we'll see in KC before the year ends.

Johnny Giavotella vs Christian Colon - This is a rivalry that should be fun to watch all season long, Colon hasn't excited me defensively at SS and while I didn't expect him to I'm unsure if his defense is good enough at 2b to eclipse Gio's offense. Giavotella is patient, knows his offensive limitations and is a good enough baserunner that he might be a difficult hurdle for the higher drafted Colon to get over. Giavotella looked much better on defense during the Futures game than I've seen him in the past making a good turn on a double play and making a jumping throw from the SS side of second base. Giavotella is never going to be an All Star second baseman but he has the chance to have a plus bat along with at his peak a average glove. I overheard some Royals scouts getting excited by Giavotella's play.

Danny Duffy - Looked alot like the pitcher we've seen most of the spring showing a low to mid 90s fastball with some shaky control (walked 3). Duffy only gave up one hit an infield single which was quickly erased by a double play. In the second inning when Mario Lisson reached via a walk Duffy was a little too deliberate to the plate allowing Lisson to get a extremely good jump and stealing second base but Duffy made up for that mistake by freezing #4 overall pick Christian Colon with a 77 mph bender. Duffy essentially got five outs in his third inning of work striking out three despite having to work an extra couple batters due to a Moustakas error at third and a Falu error at short.

Other pitchers - John Lamb's velocity was far from exciting throwing anywhere from 86-89 while touching 91 with his fastball but he gutted his way thru 2.2 innings giving up just one run on three hits. Lamb gutted out his effort by picking off Lorenzo Cain and allowing only a couple hard hit balls. The early muscle problems should be good for Lamb a little bit of adversity to overcome when not at 100%. Brandon Sisk only got to face one hitter (Moustakas) but he tied him up with a 90-91 mph fastball and two solid change ups, four pitches and a K against a premiere prospect, not bad. Chris Dwyer again like Lamb wasn't as impressive as I had hoped in the the velocity department working in 89-91 range while exhibiting some iffy control (3 walks). The AA pitchers fell victim to some poor defense behind them which could've lead to some of Dwyer's troubles trying to be too fine. One pitcher who didn't disappoint was Will Smith who despite giving up a in the park HR on a misplayed ball in LF worked quickly while touching 93 a couple times with his FB. One nice sequence for Smith was against David Lough starting him off with a couple low 90s FB, a 93 mph FB and then freezing Lough with a 76 mph deuce for strike three. Patrick Keating was disappointing to me as he was throwing in the low 90's which is quite a bit off from where scouting reports had him last season.

Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer - Neither player stood out with their results although Moose hit several balls hard. Hos on the otherhand seemed a bit impatient which is to be expected playing in the major league park in game action for the first time. The pair finished a combined 1-12 at the plate while Moustakas had a ball go right thru the wickets on defense leading to a Naturals run. Hosmer looked good on defense making all the plays in his area while also making a nice pick of a Van Stratten hard hit near the line.

Wil Myers- Myers had a tough start to the game turning a Hosmer flyball into a circus catch in RF while striking out 2 of his first 3 times at the plate. He settled on defense however making some routine plays and looks as if he'll be fine in RF. He also lined a pitch from Louis Coleman down the third base line for a double, that's a good sign as I expect Coleman will be extremely tough on righty's in the bigs with his arm angle and start from the extreme right side of the pitching rubber.

Other notes- David Lough and Jamie Romak hit the only Home Runs off the arms of Chris Dwyer and Blake Wood. Wood was throwing in the low 90s as opposed to the upper 90s like some had reported during spring training. I'll watch the guns closely in Omaha to see if that is the case once the AAA season starts.

MVP Mike Montgomery
Offensive MVP Johnny Giavotella 1-3 2-BB 1-2b

Royals announced a minor league deal with Jeff Suppan today. Suppan started for four seasons with the Royals compiling 132 starts and 832 innings over a 4 year period from 1999-2002. This is a decent little low risk deal for a ML veteran, if a couple injuries would take place the Royals could bring up Suppan to take over in the rotation as opposed to rushing Duffy or Montgomery to KC.

NEXT UP Pics and Video of the Futures game
Omaha Storm Chasers Workout Wednesday at the new Werner Park

More Videos

Brett Eibner
Eibner 2nd Video

Mike Moustakas
Moose 2nd video

Johnny Giavotella
Johnny 2nd Video

Eric Hosmer

David Lough

Jeremy Jeffress

Danny Duffy

Danny Duffy and the tale of two fastballs

This spring has been a test to young Duffy's control so far as he has walked 6 in just 5 innings of work. Yesterday was more of the same for Danny after as he surrendered a 3 run homer to Drew Stubbs after walking the previous two hitters. In a boxscore it would look like a pitcher struggling with control but after looking at the pitches before and after the home run you can see it was a tale of two fastballs.

Prior to Drew Stubbs HR 19 Fastballs = 12 Balls 7 Strikes
Hitters Johnny Gomes, Ramon Hernandez, Chris Valaika, Ryan Hanigan
After the Drew Stubbs HR 15 Fastballs = 3 Balls 12 Strikes
Hitters Edgar Renteria, Joey Votto, Scott Rolen and Jay Bruce

For a guy that runs an average fastball up there around 93 miles per hour while peaking yesterday at 95.1 I would like to see him attack the zone the way he did following the HR. It's likely that he was nibbling more because prior to the home run he was facing all righties while post home run he faced a couple lefties but still it's the difference in facing Jay Bruce, Scott Rolen and Joey Votto and attacking the zone with them as opposed to nibbling against Chris Valaika and Ryan Hannigan.

I hope he learned from that appearance and will trust his stuff more in the future.

Found out Orlando Calixte is already in Arizona according to Baseball America, I'll try to get some video of the young 19 year old who will likely play this season for one of the three Royals rookie clubs.

Royals make a couple moves

Bob Dutton tweeted that the Royals assigned Noel Arguelles to Wilmington while reassigning Brandon Sisk to minor league camp. While I like Sisk he is a symbol of how this team is becoming more talented. When GMDM first arrived in 2007 a guy like Brandon Sisk would have almost certainly made it to the end of big league camp challenging Jimmy Gobble or even last year Dusty Hughes but with the depth of the talented arms in the bullpen he'll spend the season in Omaha. Tim Collins, Danny Duffy and perhaps Bruce Chen(if he loses out in the rotation) look to be the leaders in the clubhouse for those lefty spots. I like Sisk but I see him as more of a LOOGY type and with the depth of Lefty arms in the system some of which will almost certainly land in the pen if for only short periods of time it's going to become very difficult for him to make it with the Royals. Hopefully for his sake he'll get an opportunity for another team at some point and earn the Royals something in return.

As for Noel Arguelles it appears he will be starting the season in Wilmington where he'll join Jake Odorizzi, Tim Melville, Justin Marks (acquired in the DDJ trade) and probably either Eric Cantrell or perhaps Tyler Sample.

Draft talk
George Springer is off to a very slow start to the college season. He was projected as a Top 5 pick by most everyone but the way it looks currently he is going to have to get on a real hot streak to realize those dreams. Current line .172/.306/.345 1 HR

Next Up: Spring Training Mar 13-18

Royals sign Jeff Francis

GMDM made a solid signing today inking Jeff Francis to a one year 2M+ incentives deal. Francis a lefty from the Rockies organization is trying to rebuild his career after shoulder problems kept him out in 2009 and part of 2010.

A few positives come with this deal.
The Royals didn't overpay.

Francis has some upside to him as opposed to a Kevin Millwood who would be nothing more than a Jason Kendall on the mound.

If Francis proves to be healthy and back to his old form the Royals should be able to turn him at the deadline for a nice prospect or two.

This should hold back the front office from starting Duffy or Teaford on the major league 25 man to begin the season. Teaford was hit hard in his one AAA start and as Edgar Osuna proved last season the Pacific Coast League can prove to be quite challenging as compared to AA. If Duffy, Teaford or other lefty prove to be ready for the majors early they perhaps can learn a thing or two from Francis while he is in KC.

The Royals continue to not spend big in a non-contend season. GMDM has seemingly learned from past mistakes and continues to sign contracts that will not limit the payroll of the future.

All in all a nice limited downside type of deal.

The Royals also inked Luke Hochevar and Alex Gordon to one year deals for 1.76 and 1.4M(100K incentive) respectively. Hoch was given no raise while Gordon received a modest 300K raise. The Royals continue to win by avoiding arbitration with their players. Billy Butler, Kyle Davies and Robinson Tejeda remain the only unsigned arbitration eligible Royals left.

Next up: Why I'm bullish on GMDM.

Breaking down the potential Omaha Storm Chasers roster

Very Likely
Position Players
1b Clint Robinson - 2010 Texas League Triple Crown Winner
2b Johnny Giavotella - Texas Lg All Star .855 AA OPS
3b Mike Moustakas - 15 HR in 52 AAA games
C Manny Pina - 45% Caught Stealing rate at AA
CF Jarrod Dyson - Hit .272 in 46 AAA games also swiped 13 bags in that time
LF David Lough - 2nd Half of AAA Season .865 OPS w/.403 OBP 21/26 BB/SO rate
OF Derrick Robinson - 50 Stolen bases in 2010
OF Paulo Orlando - 2010 had career highs in every offensive category
Pitchers
SP Luis Mendoza - 4.10 ERA in 24 Games (22 starts) for Omaha in 2010
SP Everett Teaford - One of 6 Royals Minor Leaguers on the PanAm Team
SP Edgar Osuna - Lots of struggles in AAA 3.7 HR/9
SP Mario Santiago - Slipped thru the Rule 5 draft
RP Louis Coleman - delay the clock
RP Tim Collins - delay the clock
RP Blaine Hardy - Pitched 67 innings for Omaha with a 3.49 ERA
RP Brandon Sisk - Royal best 2.51 ERA in Arizona Fall League

Competition
SS Irving Falu - Escobar trade hurt his chances with Royals longterm
IF Lance Zawadzki - Organization depth
IF Joaquin Arias - Organization depth

50/50
1b Eric Hosmer - .977 OPS between AA and A+ 72 extra base hits compared to 59 Ks
SP Danny Duffy - Found new velocity in 2010 reaching 98 mph on some guns
SS Jeff Bianchi - Back from Tommy John surgery
RP Henry Barrera - High strikeout low BB reliever
RP Patrick Keating - Averaged 12.8 K/9 between High A and AA
RP Blake Johnson - 1.40 ERA in Winter Ball 22 IP
RP Jeremy Jeffres - Delay the clock

Strengths- Bullpen- The bullpen should be loaded with skilled and power arms. Tools- whether all the tools will translate or not this will be one of the most skilled set of players to come through Omaha in quite sometime.

Weakness- Youth - These players will get tested against the AAA veterans for the first time.

New Stadium, New Name, New Players, Young talent makes for the most interesting AAA season in Omaha in quite a long time.

14 for 77 Royal Minor League Player of the Year

It was a tough year to come up with a Royal minor league player of the year with so many outstanding performances. It started with Mike Montgomery and Eric Hosmer taking over Wilmington from the start of the year. Soon Mike Moustakas would get healthy and start his obliteration of minor league pitching on his way to a ton of Home Runs and extra base hits. John Lamb, Chris Dwyer and Wil Myers would all start to get take over in May and zoom thru levels of competition while Danny Duffy wouldn't be far behind. As the season wore on the pitchers either got challenged by injuries or extra levels as their production slowed. Myers, Moose and Hos excelled as they all got promoted a level and while Hosmer was probably the leader 3/4 of the way thru he gets a slight notch against him as his promotion probably helped his numbers more than the other two. That leaves Moose and Myers as my finalist.

Moustakas 35 Home Runs jumps off the page as do his 74 extra base hits compared to 65 strikeouts but in the end he played in two pretty decent hitting environments.

My Royal Minor League Player of the Year is Wil Myers. Wil put up a .916 OPS in two and a half months of the Midwest league as a 19 year old. He also hit 10 HRs in 239 ABs, at that pace he probably would have bested Moustakas 22 at the same level when he was 19. Myers then promoted to Wilmington a very difficult park on right-handers and a difficult hitting level in general. Wilmington was the same level that ate Hosmer and Moustakas up in 2009 but Myers would dominate with the bat from the moment he arrived. Absent of more HRs one can say nothing about Myers game other than he struggles behind the plate. Neither Moustakas or Hosmer are above average defenders so Myers difficulty behind the plate isn't that big of a hit against his season considering he is playing a more difficult position in general. At only 19 years old for him to have the type of year he has had at the two most difficult hitting environments in the Royals minor league system Myers has done enough to be my minor league player of the year.

Arizona Fall League Rosters announced

The Royals will be sending Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery, Patrick Keating, Derrick Robinson, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez to Surprise Arizona this fall for the Arizona Fall League. Perez at only 20 years old will be the 2nd youngest position player in the league and should present quite the challenge for the young catcher. Perez had a stellar August in the Carolina League powering up for 4 Home Runs which is 1 more than he had hit in the previous four months. Overall for the month Perez line of .390/.412/.623 is easily the best line he has posted in his young minor league career. On top of the bat improving Salvador's defense remains above average throwing out 43% of runners on the season. Perez definitely has to improve his patience at the plate but overall I have a lot of respect the season the young catcher has put together in the Carolina league.

.283/.312/.406 7 HR 20 doubles 16/37 BB/So 43% CS 11 PB 82 gms

Hello GMDM 3 days left and the future is getting closer

Rumors- Nothing really, NL West teams were calling on Podsednik but the Padres were said to not be a good fit. The Giants don't need him as they have plenty of lefty bats and some speed in the outfield they are much more likely to get Cantu and perhaps Guillen as a consolation prize. The Rockies are 8 games back which means they are closer to becoming sellers than buyers. That leaves the Dodgers who currently have Garrett Anderson hitting .183, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp but also have Manny on a rehab assignment. Perhaps only being 5 games back they would be interested in Pods and as Royal fans the Dodgers are definitely the team we want interested in a player. The McCourts are cash strapped and have given away good young controllable talent for mediocre major league players (Carlos Santana for Casey Blake). I just don't see it though I hope I'm wrong but with the way Gordon has looked in the outfield since getting called up and Podsednik's decent season I just see GMDM looking more and more at exercising Pods option, I hope I'm wrong though.

Farnsworth sore leg is another sign of the bad Karma KC is continuously dealing with. Of course it couldn't be Guillen getting injured it had to be Farnsworth and DDJ who could yield some good young players instead Guillen will flash his immobility in the outfield no one will come a calling and then KC will try to get someone to bite after clearing waivers and unless Kenny Williams doesn't grab someone for that DH spot I doubt anyone will. Glass is such a penny pincher and looking to unload this team that they won't outright release him giving him the job thru September and yet again blocking Kila from getting a real audition.

Down in the Minors it appears John Lamb and Danny Duffy has been promoted to NW Arkansas where they'll join Aaron Crow and Chris Dwyer in the rotation. What a rotation if Mike Montgomery joins them later this season I would have to believe that is the most stacked minor league rotation in quite sometime. Let’s take a look at where everyone is currently


Mike Moustakas- Omaha Royals
Mike Montgomery- Arizona Royals rehab assignment
Eric Hosmer- NW Arkansas
Wil Myers- Wilmington
John Lamb- NW Arkansas
Christian Colon- Wilmington
Chris Dwyer- NW Arkansas
Danny Duffy- NW Arkansas
Aaron Crow- NW Arkansas
David Lough- Omaha
Louis Coleman- Omaha
Tim Melville- Wilmington
Kila Ka'aihue- Omaha
Salvador Perez- Wilmington
Tyler Sample- Burlington
Jordan Parraz- Omaha
Cheslor Cuthbert- Idaho Falls
Derrick Robinson- NW Arkansas
Tim Smith- NW Arkansas
Johnny Giavotella- NW Arkansas

That's 12 of my Top 20 in the Upper two levels of the minors and that's not including Mike Montgomery on a rehab assignment. The Future is coming and it's starting to really pound on that door. While I don't believe GMDM should rush these guys he needs to look at what he has and start adding to it because there is going to be some failures on this list and passing on deals for Podsednik, Farnsworth, Soria or anyone else on this failing major league roster is a plan to fail in 2012 when some of these guys are here to play and stay.

Danny Duffy on the mend

Duffy who took a hiatus from baseball has been in Arizona for the last month and should be ready to join his crew in AA very soon. Duffy has pitched the last two nights in Arizona pitching 2 innings each night while striking out six in total. Duffy's addition to the Naturals would be a nice addition prior to 2011 when a few Nats should start filtering into the big league roster.

Great News Danny Duffy is back and so is Tim Melville !

Danny Duffy returned to the Royals Arizona facility Wednesday to restart his baseball career. This is a big deal to the Royals as Duffy was a Top 10 minor league prospect and any organization like KC can't have Top 10 guys just up and quit. He'll begin is road back from arm injury in Surprise and hopefully get back to AA where he can show what he has against more advanced competition. This is Danny's first bit of adversity in his career and hopefully he will show his ability to conquer challenges as there will be many more during his baseball career.

Along with the comeback of Duffy another Royal minor leaguer has seemed to have righted the ship. Tim Melville's first seven starts were definitely forgettable but his last four have been much better. Over his last four starts he's pitched 24.2 innings yielding just 16 hits against 5 walks while striking out 21 and allowing 8 ERs(2.92 ERA). Melville has started to create more groundballs over his last two starts causing 15 groundouts compared to 5 flyball outs. It's still early but if this is going to become a regular thing but it is a definite good sign.