The Curse of the Prospect Royal Lefthander

The depth of Royal lefthanders in the minor leagues just fell off today by 20% today. That because of Danny Duffy's decision to step away from the game. Duffy just felt that he didn't love the game anymore and needs to make decisions about his life. The timing of this decision looks somewhat unfortunate as it came just weeks after he encountered his first bit of adversity when an injured arm had him sidelined for a few months. The timing of this decision isn't all terrible as the injury would have sidelined him until June anyway so maybe he takes this time to realize that he needs the game the way Zack Greinke needed it and if not then KC fortunately has enough depth at lefthanded starters that they might not notice. Duffy was just a prospect and at AA so to say he was going to be a success at the major league level is a stretch.

Good Luck Danny with whatever decision you do make.

Possible Omaha Royals OF should be exciting to watch.

Jarrod Dyson, David Lough and Jordan Parraz have all reported to AAA spring training. While I wouldn't be surprised if Lough or Dyson started the season in NW Arkansas the combination of the three would in my opinion make for the strongest defensive unit of any Royal minor league affiliate. Dyson showed off his speed and ability to track the ball in center field this spring while playing with the major league team. Dyson seems to be a Joey Gathright clone without the minor league hitting success, remember Gathright had a .761 OPS as opposed to Dyson's .668 effort so far. So temper any expectations to him being a starting CFr in Kansas City as I doubt he'll ever hit enough to make it but for us ORoyals ticket holders he should be fun to watch when he does get on base(82% SB %) and in the field. As for the corners Lough and Parraz are decently adept at tracking the ball and might also have the skills at the plate to contribute at the big league level. Lough exploded on the scene last season with a good effort at Wilmington(.850 OPS) prior to achieving quite a bit of success at NW Arkansas (.934 OPS). Lough probably has the speed to play CF but continues to be paired with speedsters in the minors and has only played parts of each season in center. Lough is the bright spot positionally in the system rated as my #4 prospect due to the fact that he continues to progress with the bat and his speed should make him playable in CF and a plus at the LF slot. As for Parraz he also was having an outstanding season in AA prior to some hamstring problems that developed. Before those problems Parraz was hitting at a .358 clip had earned more walks than strikeouts(29-25) and showed more pop in the bat than previous seasons with a career high .553 SLG. Parraz also has the athletic ability to play a little CF in a pinch but unlike Lough has a cannon for an arm rating #1 in the KC minor league system according to Baseball America. All things considered these three would probably give the KC current alignment a run for their money defensively.

I obviously like David Lough the best of these three but could see Parraz or Dyson as major league contributors in a 4th Outfielder role.

ST Update Minor league performances

Mike Moustakas suffered a strained right oblique earlier this week on a swing and could miss the first two weeks of the season. He was reassigned March 11 to minor-league camp and was likely to open the season at Class AA Northwest Arkansas.
“He swung and fouled a ball back,” said J.J. Picollo, the assistant general manager for scouting and player development.
“He felt something and the next swing, with two strikes he hit a single, but you could see that his swing was a little funny. He jogged down the line and called the trainer out.”Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/18/1822931/the-day-in-camp.html#ixzz0idEphURp

Aaron Hartsock was impressive in a 3 1/3 inning stint in relief of Payano, fanning six batters and allowing just one hit. Ben Swaggerty also contributed a scoreless inning of relief in the eighth. Johnny Giavotella accounted for the Naturals only run with a solo home run. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Gio. Naturals lost the game 7-1.

David Lough had two singles and a walk in a 7-2 Omaha win.

Eric Hosmer was 3-3 with a double and a HR in 9-6 Blue Rocks ST win. Matt Mitchell back from Tommy John pitched strong for the Rocks going 3 innings allowing 1 hit and 1 run while striking out six. Patrick Keating also threw two scoreless.

Minor League Moves Aaron Crow to NW Arkansas

Aaron Crow was reassigned to NW Arkansas today. This is a wise decision by the Royals FO. Why am I writing about this? Well the fact that we as Royals fans have to be happy when the team makes a no brainer decision (Signing Zack) like this shows how far the opinion of this front office has fallen. This still is a smart move by GMDM none the less.

Crows path should be similar to Luke Hochevars in that Aaron should route thru Omaha on his way to the majors. The PCL is a good test for young pitchers. The parks are inflated and many teams have gotten back to using AAA as a learning tool. Just last season a pitcher could've faced the likes of Chris Coghlan, Kyle Blanks, Buster Posey, Travis Snider, Brett Wallace, Cameron Maybin, Justin Smoak,etc.. That list is impressive and that's not adding guys who already have lots of big league experience. Better more experienced competition can teach him lessons to use at the big league level.

Luke's big league success is more a question of stuff as opposed to system development and approach in my opinion.

Bees rotation as intriguing as any in the system

Keith at the Royal Tower wrote a nice piece about the Wilmington rotation last month and while the Rocks will have the premiere level talent in the organization the Bees should have some intriguing names as well.

Their rotation should be fronted by three pitchers that have similar stories all are young and have recovered from HS injuries.

John Lamb is the so called Ace of the staff and has been heralded for his pitchability. That ability should serve him very well in the pitching environment of the midwest league. Hopefully he continues to develop his curve and changeup which could be above average pitches and will have to be for him to continue his success. BA ranks him as having the best control in the system which could equal some crazy k/bb ratio if past success is an indication (Duffy '08,Cegarra'08).

Keeton Hayenga according to alot of people Hayenga was hitting 92-94 mph during the '08 instructional season but he was mostly around 89-91 during the '09 season. Hayenga has been spotted by BA and Royalsprospects.com as the prospect to fly up the most charts next season. This could be very likely with his curveball and fastball both looking like possible plus pitches once he can find more consistency with them.


Tyler Sample the big righty from the rockies could be in for a big big bounce forward this season as he really started to come on towards the end of '09. Sample allowed 1 run over his final three starts (19 Ip) also only giving up 8 hits over that same span. At 6'7 and 245 lbs Sample looks like a workhorse but is going to need a bring along his change up to last as a starter. Look for Sample to build on his strong finish.

Matt Mitchell Mitchell burst onto the seen in '07 as the ERA champ of the Arizona League (1.80) and was looking for a strong follow up in '08 in Burlington. Unfortunately he couldn't match fellow teammate Danny Duffy's success at both levels. Mitchell has the makes of above average change up which shows with his better splits versus lefties than righties. He had Tommy John surgery which is the reason he will probably be repeating Burlington. UR

Kelvin Herrera My favorite young Royal prospect Herrera has had little trouble at any level even pitching very well during the Burlington '08 playoff run. Herrera is the least projectable physically of the group only checking in at 5'10 160 lbs but none of the four can really match his combination of stuff and pitchability. He throws in the low 90s and has an advanced feel for pitching. Herrera is my pick for the biggest mover this season if his arm proves healthy from the injury that sidelined him in '09. My #14 ranked prospect

What's the capper to these five well the fact that they will be having the most talked about positional prospect in the system catching them. The combination of talented arms to go with Myers at catcher should be good reason for us prospect hounds to be tracking them on a daily basis.

Reviewing a BA Top 20 League List (2005 Cal League) Starring Billy Butler

As a huge fan of Baseball America and overall prospect junkie I thought I would take an opportunity during a slight downtime and review some of their Top 20 League lists. My first review is the 2005 Top 20 Prospects in the California League. Why start there? Billy Butler the leader of the Royals of course, why else? Billy had an amazing year at High Desert as a 19 yo he obviously must have been the top prospect in the league. Try again #5

BA 2005 TOP 20 Cal League Prospects w/Team at the time Fangraphs WAR Value
#1 Brandon Wood SS (Angels) -0.7 86 Games
#2 Stephen Drew SS (Diamondbacks) 5.6 WAR 496 Games
3. Howie Kendrick SS(Angels) 6.2 WAR 357 Games
4. Ian Stewart 3B (Rockies) 2.7 WAR 263 Games
5. Billy Butler LF (Royals)- 3.1 WAR 375 Games
6. Daric Barton 1b (A's)- 2.2 WAR 212 Games
7. Edinson Volquez SP (Rangers)- 4.8 WAR 62 Games/58 Starts
8. Thomas Diamond SP (Rangers)-No Pro Action
9. Adam Jones SS (Mariners)- 4.1 WAR 324 Games
10. Eddy Martinez-Esteve OF (Giants) No Pro Action
11. John Danks SP (Rangers) 8.8 WAR 91 Starts
12. Asdrubal Cabrera SS (Mariners) 5.4 WAR 290 Games
13. Chris Ianetta C (Rockies) 6.5 285 Games
14. Miguel Montero C (D-Backs) 4.4 288 Games
15. Ubaldo Jimenez RHP (Rockies) 11.1 83 Starts
16. Nate Schierholtz OF (Giants) 1.8 174 Games
17. George Kottaras C (Padres)
18. Jim Miller RHP (Rockies)
19. Juan Morillo RHP (Rockies)
20. Chris Lubanski OF (Royals)

ReRank Based on WAR Value
1. Ubaldo Jimenez- Rockies
2. John Danks- White Sox
3. Chris Ianetta-Rockies
4. Howie Kendrick-Angels
5. Stephen Drew-DBacks
6. Asdrubal Cabrera-Indians
7. Edinson Volquez-Reds
8. Miguel Montero-DBacks
9. Adam Jones-Orioles
10. Billy Butler- Royals
11. Ian Stewart- Rockies
12. Daric Barton A's
13. Brandon Wood-Angels

What a difference playing time makes. Wood's career could have turned out quite differently if David Glass had allowed the Mike Sweeney proposed trade to go through. He instead has languished in an organization that felt he couldn't handle the middle infield thus logging 317 games in AAA where he has crushed pitching to the tune of a .902 OPS and 76 Hr's. He'll finally get his opportunity to prove he was worth the wait as he'll get to start at 3b this season. As for the rest of this list how many teams would trade most of this list for the #9 and 10 ranked WAR players currently? Jones was an All Star and Gold Glove winner(Hello Franklin Gutierrez) in '09 while Billy Butler had a breakout offensive season with 51 Doubles and 21 Hrs the type of season BA scouts envisioned. Jimenez is a fringe #1 starter while Volquez was solid in '08 but has experienced arm issues and underwent TJ surgery in '09. Danks might be the most consistent of the pitching core while having the lowest upside. He should be able to be a solid #3 starter type for sometime and build on his 91 starts having a decent and long career. Danks was the youngest of the Rangers DVD crew (Diamond-Volquez-Danks) but has proven to be the most solid of the young hurlers while none of the three made it up with the Rangers.

As I do more and more of these we'll keep a list of most successful list based on a totally ludicrous value system that I put together.

BA Percentage 13 (6.5 pts) Major Leaguers, 1 (0.25pt) Fringe Type(Wood) out of 20 Prospects=6.75 pts

2 All Star selections = 2 Pts

0 Pts Franchise Players currently=3 possible Franchise Players (Butler, Jones, Jimenez)= 0 Points Currently

2005 Cal League List = 8.75

Franchise Players = 3 Pts

MVPs/CyYoungs = 2 Pts

Allstar Selections =1 Pts

1.0+ War Career equal to .5 Pts

Starter in ML equal to .25 Pts

Tough News on the Royals Prospect Front

SSJeff Bianchi to undergo Tommy John surgery. Bianchi has been hit with the injury bug again in his young career. After having a promising resurection of sorts last season in Wilmington/NW Arkansas it appears he will have another setback. BA said he had the stuff to stay at SS but this setback may hurt his arm and any move off of SS will be tough for him to recover from to become a ML'r

Danny Duffy is also experiencing some elbow discomfort hopefully this is just precautionary with him.