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

6 Future Royals land on MLB Top 50

Good signs of the future as 6 Royal minor leaguers ended up on the Top 50 list.

Players and possible starting point and draft pick
#7 overall Mike Moustakas Omaha Storm Chasers 2007 #2 overall pick
#8 Eric Hosmer Omaha Storm Chasers 2008 #3 Overall pick
#14 Mike Montgomery NW Arkansas Naturals 2008 Supplemental pick
#16 Wil Myers NW Arkansas Naturals 2009 3rd Round pick
#34 John Lamb NW Arkansas Naturals 2008 5th Round pick
#37 Jake Odorizzi Wilmington Blue Rocks Aquired in the Zack Greinke trade

This is a sign of how far GMDM has taken the minor league system in a short time. Guys like Danny Duffy, Chris Dwyer, Christian Colon and Aaron Crow were probably not far behind and could also be heard of not too far down the road.

Wow Look at these rotations !

While most baseball prospects pros have targeted the AA NW Arkansas rotation as the best in baseball Dayton Moore hasn't stopped there in loading this system with potential starting pitchers.

Potential Team
Name
Omaha Storm Chasers
Danny Duffy
Everett Teaford
Edgar Osuna
Mario Santiago

NW Arkansas Naturals
Mike Montgomery- BA - If you are talking about fastball-curveball-changeup, Montgomery's stuff grades out the best for his top three pitches.
John Lamb- BA - Few lefthanders can match Lamb's combination of three possible plus pitches and exquisite command.
Chris Dwyer
Aaron Crow
Will Smith

Wilmington Blue Rocks
Jake Odirizzi BA - "Two scouts called him a lesser version of Zack Greinke."
Tim Melville
Tyler Sample
Justin Marks KL - Marks is a solid inventory prospect
Noel Arguelles KL -Arguelles is a physical specimen with a workhorse frame.

Kane County Cougars
Jason Adam KL - "Adam was 92-94 mph with a plus two-plane curveball at 76-77, and most impressive of all was his plus command of both pitches, throwing the curve for quality strikes to both sides of the plate."
Robinson Yambati
Yordano Ventura KG -" This undersized teenager has plus-plus velocity and impressive command."
Crawford Simmons

That is 17 quality minor league starters with quite a few with solid upside. Even with the usual prospect failures KC should be able to piece together a solid staff of starters from 2012 and on.

KG= Kevin Goldstein checkout his stuff at Baseball Prospectus or on Itunes with his podcast Up and In. www.baseballprospectus.com
KL= Keith Law ESPN.com Insider subscription http://search.espn.go.com/keith-law/
BA= Baseball America www.baseballamerica.com

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.

Lower Minors getting pub

Baseball America had a nice blurb about Yordano Ventura of the Arizona Royals hitting 98-99 mph with his fastball. Pretty impressive for a 5'11 150 lbs 19 year old to show that type of stuff already. Along with him Crawford Simmons was named Appalachian Pitcher of the Week for August 9th by milb.com. Simmons a 14th round pick last season is considered to be a good overall athlete as he could've had a scholarship in golf or baseball to Georgia Tech but passed on both to sign with the Royals for $450,000. Simmons according to BA sports the usual Royal minor league repertoire fastball,curve and change up averaging 86-90 while touching 91 with his fastball prior to signing. Simmons combined with a teammates Leonel Santiago and Willian Avinazar are leading the Burlington Royals to above normal season for the usual Burlington(NC) bottom feeders. Those four plus 19 year old Robinson Yambati in Arizona combine to give the Royals a possible second wave to the solid prospects they already have at the top levels of the system.

KC should be thinking of shutting John Lamb down for the season not because of his recent struggles but because he has pitched 58 more innings already over what he pitched last season. Even if you don't support the Verducci Effect or other systems Lamb is only 20 and recent struggles could be hints of injury or lead to possible injury down the road with too great a increase in workload.

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.

John Lamb and Mike Moustakas

John Lamb improved his earned run string to 26 IP without allowing an earned run by pitching 5 Innings allowing 3 hits 1 walk while striking out 4 in the Rocks 5-0 win on Friday night July 9.

The Royals gave Mike Moustakas a few days off as he travels to the Futures Game. Its been assumed my most people following the Royals that instead of going back to Northwest Arkansas he'll instead go to Omaha and begin his AAA stint. If true Omaha will be returning home the weekend of July 23rd for a 6 game/4 day stint. I'll be there to capture video and post on the site.

Baseball America rankings

Baseball America just came out with their midseason rankings and the Royals organization had five ranked in their Top 50.

Mike Moustakas #12- Kind of surprised Moose wasn't in the Top 10 but based on his struggles last season and dramatic Home/Road splits it's not without basis. Moose could easily crack the Top 5-10 if he continues to succeed at AAA Omaha after the Futures Game.

Eric Hosmer #13- BA have taken a conservative approach to Hosmer for most of his career ranking him lower than Keith Law most of the time. Hos also could peak into the Top 10 with more power production at AA. He could easily crack the Top 5 for Keith Law with similar AA performance.

Mike Montgomery #18- Monty would've probably been closer to #10-15 if it wasn't for his forearm problems.

John Lamb and Wil Myers 26-50- They didn't rank the 26-50 spots individually but I would think Lamb would be closer to the Top 35 while Myers would be in the Top 50 range. As far as both of them I've been on record that Myers is the most talented overall hitter in the system while Lamb could crack the Top 25 if KC would give him a shot to go and dominate at AA.

This was GMDMs design all along to build through the minor leagues and the draft and at this point one would say it's looking very positive.

NEXT: Video of Omaha Royals Friday 7/9

Lamb is too much for Wilmington

I've never been in favor of rushing a prospect from level to level let a guy show he is deserving of that bump then move him up but then there is the case for John Lamb. The kid is absolutely dominating the High A level right now. After cruising thru Burlington Lamb has only gotten better against tougher competition. Thru 9 High A starts he's yielded more than 1 ER only once and he currently operating on a 21 IP earned run scoreless streak. He has a 11.18 K/9, 2.24 BB/9 and yielding a 1.09 WHIP. Those numbers are outstanding for a 22 year old college lefty top prospect like Brian Matusz let alone a 19 year old like Lamb, oh by the way Lamb's k rate and bb rate are both better than Matusz was last season. Lamb has just been too smooth for the High A competition and with his competitiveness and knowledge of pitching would up for the AA challenge. It's early July and while it's probably not in the cards for a promotion this season I wouldn't mind if KC did bounce him up a level I think he's shown he could handle it.

The Good The Bad and the Yasmani

John Lamb is quickly showing why many had him rated extremely high in the Royals minor league rankings. With his Sunday performance 6 IP 2H 9 Ks 2 BBs 1 ER and one pickoff Lamb looks even more impressive than Mike Montgomery did while there a year ago. Lamb from the get go has shown his ability to strikeout hitters averaging 10.5 K per 9 while carrying a 1.04 WHIP pretty impressive for a still 19 year old in High A ball against more advanced competition. Look at Lambs start compared to that of other prospects in the same league.

Danny Duffy 1.11 WHIP 8.65 K/9 2.82 BB/9 Carolina Lg #11 Prospect
Mike Montgomery 0.87 WHIP 9.04 K/9 2.02 Bb/9 Royals #1 Prospect
Casey Kelly 0.85 WHIP 6.7 K/9 1.34 BB/9 Preseason #24 Overall
Brian Matusz 1.15 WHIP 9.94 K/9 2.82 BB/9 Preseason #5 overall prospect Car Lg #2
Lambs numbers 1.13 WHIP 10.5 K/9 2.63 BB/9

With all the excellent performances by Royal minor leaguers Lamb's pitching has went under the radar but if he keeps it up he'll be at the top of most prospects charts alongside Moustakas, Hosmer and Montgomery.

As good as Moose and company have been almost equally disappointing 2009s first round pick Aaron Crow has been. Crow is striking out only 5.5 per 9 innings while allowing 4.16 BB/9 and 8 HRs in 12 starts. Crow is creating groundballs at nearly a 4:1 ratio so those Homers should start to lessen but he has got to develop that change up and hit the strikezone more often to become anything of value in the rotation. His 1.65 WHIP is a scary stat but he could still be working on things after being off for quite some time so his second half stats might be more telling. Hard to believe some thought he might start the season on the big league club.

The 2010 draft takes place today and if you follow the rumors as I do KC is down to basically two players. Yasmani Grandal and Chris Sale, I think most of you that have read my blog or comments at Royals Review know that I'm more in favor of taking Sale than Grandal. I lean towards higher ceilings and Sale has a much higher ceiling than Grandal who is a safe pick. Frank Piliere has let out many rumors that a deal is being worked on with Grandal, his people and the Royals somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million. At those figures I can't say I have a problem with the pick but anything in the neighborhood of Buster Posey money would be absurd. Grandal is having an excellent season and while this could be a step forward offensively I'm still worried about his past track record in college, the cape and for Team USA. Whoever KC picks in the first round is just preliminary as this draft and any draft can be changed greatly by adding talent in the 2nd rounds and on like KC has each of the last two seasons. We fans might not be having this discussion if KC would have gave Yasmani the 1 million in 2007 that he desired instead of saving 500K on 2nd rd bust Sam Runion.

Redoing the Royals Prospect List 6-10

#6 David Lough- Quick bat and adjusting to fulltime duty in CF. Still wish he was more patient at the plate but he is still young in his baseball career.

#7 John Lamb- Dominated Single A ball and has earned the quick promotion to Wilmington.

#8 Chris Dwyer- Adjusting well to his first full season of pro ball.

#9 Louis Coleman- Under 1 Whip while showing he can make it thru multiple innings. Don't be shocked to see him in KC by seasons end

#10 Tim Melville- Struggling with control and mechanics. Has definitely been the biggest disappointment of the Royal prospect season thus far.

The rumors were flying Monday as some speculation came out about a possible big promotion of a KC prospect was tossed around. While we are still unsure of the prospect or the rumor any move to KC for a prospect such as Crow, Moose or Montgomery would be a mistake in my opinion. KC is not contending this season and the short term gains of moving a prospect 2 levels to the bigs without as much as 2 months in AA ball would be a reach. You don't see the Marlins moving Mike Stanton or the Nats calling up Strasburg yet do you. And those teams are way closer to being in the race as the Royals are. Let them dominate and if you want to call them up in September then give them a crack otherwise you are just playing to attendance and job concerns.

Welcome back Moose and the Players of the Week !

Players of the Week (Apr 18-24)

Omaha Royals 3-4 (7-10 4 GB)

Buck Coats - The AAAA type outfielder had a decent week hitting .353 with a couple doubles.

Bruce Chen - Chen had a solid outing before getting bumped up to the KC bullpen starting on the 20th and going 8 innings striking out eight and giving up 5 hits and 1 walk while not allowing a run.

Northwest Arkansas Naturals 4-2 (9-6 2 GB)

Edgar Osuna - Osuna the Rule 5 from the Braves pitched a solid game Thursday going 7 Innings giving up only 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 6. Osuna(2-1) has yet to give up an earned run in his 17 Innings of work.

Johnny Giavotella - Great week by Little Italy getting a hit in all six games and earning multiple hits in five of the six games. Gio is definitely going to have to continue knocking the ball around as his defense might be worse than Callaspo's. Week stats .480/.536/.560

Wilmington Blue Rocks 4-3 (8-8 2 GB)

Buddy Baumann - Lefty from Missouri State continued his hot hand this week pitching 5.1 Innings while striking out 10 and letting five reach(2 walks 3hits). If he continues pitching like this he should move up to Arkansas by mid season. Nice Stat 16.03 K/9

Eric Hosmer - Yowza the Hos just keeps on hitting and hitting going 11 for 24 this week (.458) and adding some pop to it which he hadn't been doing previously with his first Home Run and a couple doubles. .458/.552/.667 I am a proponent of letting Hos play in Wilmington for nearly all of the season but if he continues this hitting for another month he might force their hand to move him to Arkansas.

Burlington Bees

John Lamb - Lamb gave up 1 earned run over 9.1 innings while striking out 12 over that same period of time. Seven hits and four walks during his last two outings for the Bees.

Wil Myers - No Bee offensive player had the type of breakout weeks that some of the others did but it does seem that Myers is making some good adjustments to full season ball. Week stats .304/.360/.522

April in Burlington

Moustakas '08 84 abs .190/.253/.226 1 HR 7-11 BB-K

Hosmer '09 63 abs .222/.342/.286 4-2b 0 Hr 12-21 BB-K

Myers '10 62 abs .242/.304/.403 2-2b 1-3b 2 HR 5-16 BB-K

It has been nice to see the higher rated prospects in the system get off to very good starts. Montgomery and Hosmer have had excellent starts while Mike Moustakas has jumped out with a terrific first three games in Arkansas. Hopefully these guys all keep it up while a few others emerge, giving us something to watch instead of Kansas City.

Minor League Players of the Week and Blowing up the Bullpen

I get the feeling anyday now that GMDM is going to blowup the KC bullpen. First off Roman Colon was DFA'd for Josh Rupe, rumors of the Royals interested in trading Juan Cruz and the lack of performance compared to the qualified candidates in Omaha should lead to some more movement very soon. Look for Mendoza to be the next to be moved with a Juan Cruz trade and possibly a Dusty Hughes swap with a Omaha Royal arm.

Minor League Performers of the Week (Apr 11-17)

Omaha Royals 3-4

Kila Ka'aihue 6-20 .300 2 Hr 2-2b 5 BB .444 obp .800 slg - Kila continues to prove why he should be on KCs roster as opposed to Omaha's.

Bryan Bullington 10 IP 9 Ks 0 Bb 6 H 2 r 1 ER - I believe Bullington will earn a spot in the KC bullpen as soon as there is room.

Disco Hayes was activated from the taxi squad

Northwest Arkansas Naturals 3-3

Derrick Robinson 11-24 .458 2-3b 1-2b 2 bb 5 SB 1 CS - Robinson is showing his adjustment in his lefthanded stance is working out getting all but one hit from the left side. He currently has a 14% line drive rate which would be a career high.

Louis Coleman 4.2 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 K 1 BB - No Natural pitcher jumped off the stat sheet so I took someone that I hope can challenge for a bullpen role by years end.
Mike Moustakas could be activated sometime this week.

Wilmington Blue Rocks 4-2

Eric Hosmer 9-21 .429 4 bb 4 Rbi - The Hos isn't hitting for a ton of power but at least he is hitting. The power will come as long as he consistently makes contact and all signs show he is going to do that all season long.

Mike Montgomery 1-0 7 IP 2 H 1 ER 13 K 0 BB- Montgomery put on an absolute clinic against the Kinston Indians taking a perfect game into the 7th while setting a career high in strikeouts. Montgomery will probably be in Arkansas by May sometime if he continues pitching the way he has his first two starts.

Burlington Bees 2-5

Gerard Hall 7-24 5-2b 6 BB 3 SB - Hall has been consistent reaching base in all but one Burlington game while showing decent gap to gap pop and plenty of speed.

John Lamb - 4.2 IP 6 K 2 BB 1 H 0 R - Nice bounceback by the #1 prospect on the Bees roster

Sunday Scheduled Pitchers

Omaha Royals - Gaby Hernandez

NW Arkansas Naturals - Everett Teaford

Wilmington Blue Rocks - Unknown

Burlington Bees - John Lamb

Next Video April 24 Omaha Royals

Royals Minor League Rosters set Here is the best of

Best Rotation- Wilmington Blue Rocks- Not really close since Mike Montgomery started in Wilmington. Montgomery, Noel Arguelles, Tim Melville and Chris Dwyer makeup a top notch minor league rotation one that Ben Badler of Baseball America tweeted to me might be the best in the minors. Honorable Mention- Burlington Bees- John Lamb, Tyler Sample, Kelvin Herrera and Matt Mitchell make up a solid foursome all in the Top 30 of the BA list of Royals prospects.

I could see alot of quick moves with those rotations. Herrera has done well in Burlington in his previous four starts as has Montgomery. Look for Montgomery to move up to Arkansas sometime in June or July if Crow would move up and Herrera, Lamb or Mitchell to follow suit to Wilmington with Keaton Hayenga joining the Burlington party. Arguelles is a late scratch with arm soreness but even with that I'll take Wilmingtons rotation over Burlingtons.

Best Bullpen- Omaha Royals- This AAA bullpen is probably better than Kansas City's minus Soria. Blake Wood, Carlos Rosa and Greg Holland all have power arms from the right side while Chris "Disco" Hayes is a groundball machine and Adam Bostick showed that he might have the stuff to be a LOOGY in AAA Buffalo last season putting up solid numbers vs lefties (1.93 FIP 11.12 k/9 and .211 BAA). Bryan Bullington could possibly start for Omaha since they are low on starters at the AAA level but ultimately he showed he is best used out of the pen putting up some solid numbers out of the pen in AAA Las Vegas last season (2.62 FIP in 40 innings w/9.6 k/9).

Best Outfield- Omaha Royals- Again not even close this unit is not only solid offensively but also special defensively. David Lough, Jordan Parraz and Jarrod Dyson will be extra fun to watch this season as they all move decently well defensively while Parraz also carries a cannon for an arm. Lough and Dyson impressed in spring while Parraz like Lough enjoyed a breakout offensive season in '09. We Omaha fans should enjoy watching these guys man the outfield.

Best Infield- Northwest Arkansas Naturals- While not stellar defensively this crew has shown in their previous two stops in the minors they can put up enough numbers offensively to counter that. Clint Robinson, Johnny Giavotella and Mike Moustakas will man 1st, 2nd and 3rd base together like they have the past two seasons in Burlington and Wilmington. They will be joined by Chris McConnell at Shortstop who according to Total Zone is a very very good defensive shortstop.

Again the position players lack behind pitchers as KC has a good pitching prospect at almost every level either in the rotation or the pen. Hopefully KC can start to makeup that difference this season with hopeful bounce back seasons by Hos and Moose and Myers stepping up. We'll see as the minor league season starts Thursday.

Next Up : Checkout my Omaha Royals video on Friday from the Thursday night game against the Memphis Redbirds.