Spring Quote of the Day

I think the Royals are treading water until Salvador Perez is ready. You want to know who is making a bigger camp impression than anyone, it's Perez... Bob Dutton KC Star Chat

Perez definitely seems to be heading in a positive direction with his bat as he had probably his best season considering the tough environment Wilmington is for right handed hitters.
.290/.322/.411 7 HR 21 2b 18/38 BB/SO in 396 PA
It's a very positive sign that he has never had higher than a 12.6% K rate at any level which means he shouldn't have much trouble making contact at the upper levels. Hopefully he can do more damage as he gains strength(still just 20) even though he needs to be more patient at the plate where he carried only a 4.5% walk rate last season.

While Salvador's bat will be the final factor in deciding whether he's a everyday starter in the bigs his defense has pretty much already assured him as at least a backup career. We've seen countless numbers of lighthitting catchers who can play a couple days a week just based on their decent defense, supposed good game-calling ability and great makeup, all things Sal is off the charts at.

Perez might be one of the youngest Royals (3rd behind Myers and Lamb) at AA or higher but he is probably the closest thing to a lock that there is just due to his position and defensive ability.

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

May Minor League Players of the Month

Burlington Bees
Wil Myers The third round 2009 draftee had an excellent second month of Single A ball hitting a robust .330/.459/.500 with a 21/17 BB to So ratio. In comparison Moose and Hos had .835 and .905 OPS numbers during their Bee seasons in May.

Wilmington Blue Rocks
Salvador Perez- The 20 yr old catcher had an impressive May putting together a .867 OPS while hitting 3 HRs to equal his previous minor league total.

NW Arkansas Naturals
Mike Moustakas YAHTZEE !!! For as good as Hosmer was in April Moustakas was even better in May. The former 2nd Pick crushed everything he saw to the tune of .393/.486/.775. There were even rumors of a premature promotion. If Moustakas continues this type of hot hitting a September call up is almost assured.

Omaha Royals
Alex Gordon- Who would've thought that Alex would still be tooling around in the minors in 2010. Right or wrong he is where he is and it's quite refreshing to see him still putting in the effort. He is playing a decent outfield from what I have heard and the one game I saw and is hitting the ball the way we all expect at AAA. His May stats of .355/.496/.667 are really too good for him to spend much more time there but I'm sure GMDM will have him sit on the bus thru the CWS road trip the way he did to Billy a couple seasons ago.

Overall this season the minor leaguers look incredible. Montgomery and Lamb are overpowering hitters while Moustakas, Hosmer, Kila, Gordon and Myers are knockin the ball around consistently. Even Salvador Perez is showing off his skills behind the plate as well as at it. From the sounds of Rany's latest article is sounds as if Duffy is coming back to join the party, let's hope that is true.

Machado, Grandal or Sale according to mockers

We are closing in on what has become every Royals fan's favorite time of the year, the major league draft. Every year since 2004 KC seems to be fairly out of the race by this time and fans need something to bring us hope again that the 70's and 80's just aren't that far away again so MLB rolls out the youngsters for us to dream. This season’s top of the draft is said to be weaker than past drafts but we really don't know if that is quite true yet or not and won't know for at least 5 years. So who are the candidates for the Royals pick at #4?

There are many qualified candidates but the mockers, Keith Law, Jonathan Mayo, Baseball America staff and Andy Seiler have narrowed the list down to 3.

Manny Machado- I hitched my wagon to Machado very early in this process reading about him and falling in love with him back in December. At the time Baseball America had him as the #11 overall talents in the draft and while some might have considered it a reach I thought outside Harper he had the highest ceiling as well as having a good overall toolset to work with. That's all changed now as everyone is on his bandwagon and Machado seems to have possibly moved up to the #2 overall spot where the Pittsburgh Pirates are drafting so it's a 50/50 at best whether he'll be there for the Royals at #4. If he is it seems like a no brainer to me for an organization lacking with good hitters let alone shortstop talent.

Yasmani Grandal C- Grandal is a switch hitting catcher from the U. Grandal has been a smooth defender since his high school days when many teams viewed him as a late first round or early second round prospect. Grandal can catch it and throw it while his bat has been late to the party it finally arrived this season to the tune of ACC Player of the Year and a 1.311 OPS with 13 HR and 50/28 So/BB ratio. I've never been a big fan of taking Grandal at #4 as I don't see the minor league weakness at catcher that some seem to think KC has. In fact in a couple years KC could be doin alright at catcher if Myers continues to develop. Manny Pina doesn't have a great bat but is solid defensively and would make for a great backup while Salvador Perez at only 20 is doing well in a tough righty hitting environment in Wilmington plus Myers who is hitting quite well in his first full season at Burlington. Perez and Myers are still far away but drafting Grandal might just stunt their growth as well unless KC thinks he is so polished offensively and defensively that he could step into AA ball right away which would be a stretch in my mind. Teams shouldn't draft for need they should take the best talent available and according to most boards taking Grandal at #4 would not be doing that.

Chris Sale LHP- Sale is a tall and lean hard throwing lefty who throws out of a 3/4 arm slot, who some have classified as a injury risk. I don't want to talk about injury risks or not because you just don't know the makeup of a person’s body. His motion and arm angles do not look good but neither do other pitchers who seem to survive. What he does have is a plus fastball and change up which would help him in the High A and AA levels but his breaking stuff isn't quite there yet. He's said to be developing his slider currently and it could develop into a 55 type pitch from what I've read. If he was to join the KC system he surely would be a taught a curveball as they don't like younger players to throw sliders although as a college lefty they might change their mind. I don't know if Duffy was still in the system if KC would be looking at Sale quite as strongly as they would already have Danny, Monty, Lamb and Dwyer working their way towards the top but his absence has opened up a potential spot for another lefty I guess. Sale as a college lefty and Cape Cod Player of the Year should move thru Wilmington quickly if started there and an above average fastball and change up would probably have him besting the AA league. He'll need the breaking pitch to succeed in the Majors but I think he would be a quality pick at 4 if Machado isn't there.

In conclusion if Machado is there I think this draft is deep enough in pitching to take the stud SS and grab a good one like Cam Bedrosion (son of Steve) in the second round. If he isn't I think the money is on Sale who with a solid breaking ball could develop into a #1 or #2 starting pitcher in my mind.

Redoing the Royals Prospect List 11-20+

#11 Noel Arguelles - Still on the bench hopefully we'll see the 7 million dollar man later this season.

#12 Kila Ka'aihue - Moved him back up because of all the GMDM and Yost quotes. I think he might actually be apart of this organization next year.

#13 Salvador Perez - A coming out party of sorts for the young catcher. Only 20 and holding his own with the bat around a .800 OPS and throwing out 41% of runners against.

#14 Jordan Parraz - Parraz was off to a horrible start in Omaha but seems to have corrected things and is having a great May.

#15 Derrick Robinson - Probably a bit too early for DRob after just a 3 month turn around but his solid defense, speed and on base pct have him leaping into prospect status again. That combined with the lack of prospects around these final spots.

#16 Johnny Giavotella - Good OBP skills but a lack of defense and pop.

#17 Tyler Sample - Struggling with control still but stays low in the zone and has good tilt on his pitches.

#18 Keeton Hayenga - Made his first Burlington appearance the other day out of the pen hopefully he'll be moved to the rotation and can take advantage of the enormous potential in his arm.

#19 Cheslor Cuthbert - Probably starts in Arizona league in late June.

#20 Edgar Osuna - Osuna's change up has him looking very impressive against AA opponents but he's going to have to develop a couple other offspeed options to be anything more than a LOOGY in the majors.

Honorable Mentions

Blaine Hardy/Brandon Sisk/Buddy Baumann/Patrick Keating- All four of these bullpen arms are having outstanding seasons at their levels. Keating and Baumann are striking out more than 1 per inning while Sisk and Hardy have 4 saves each and sub 2 ERAs. Still the road for relievers to the majors is a bumpy one and don't expect many to get thru it.

Off the list

Kelvin Herrera - Was off to a very solid start to the season until his last 3 starts and arm troubles popped up again. Watching Kelvin's body language while charting pitches at the Bees game I went to reminded me of the movie "Sugar". I can't imagine how foreign it must be to be in a country that you can't communicate well in while you experience arm problems while trying to latch onto your golden ticket. Hopefully things turn around for this hard thrower but it doesn't look good.

Carlos Rosa - Traded