Speedy speedy Centerfielders

If there is one thing the KC Front office likes it is speedsters. Whether it is Scott Podsednik or Joey Gathright down to Jarrod Dyson and Hilton Richardson the Royals under the Dayton Moore regime love them some speedsters and where do those guys play? Centerfield of course, so lets take a look at what KCs system has to offer currently at that position.

Omaha Royals

David Lough- Lough is probably the least "speedy" of the group but offers the best overall tool set. While he ultimately is the best overall prospect of all the players listed in this group he won't get all the exposure that he should in Center field when Dyson becomes healthy. I think he can be an above average defensive centerfielder as well as hit for a decent average with some average pop. He needs to become more patient at the plate and control the strike zone better though. AAA will be a good test for him as he'll see more breaking pitches and plenty of junk balling lefties. He has had a lot more trouble making contact than I anticipated but that could be due to his impatience at the plate, it's definitely not for a lack of bat speed. He's off to nice start versus lefties going 4 for 10 with a double and his only walk.

Stats thru April 12 .250/.280/.417 1 HR 1-7 BB/So

Omaha Royals

Jarrod Dyson on the DL

Omaha Royals

Jose Duarte- Another speedster Duarte has previously been profiled as having the best arm in the Royals minor league system and being the best outfielder in the system. Duarte is nothing more than minor league filler despite being an excellent defensive outfielder as he has little pop with the bat. Actually on a deep team with a solid 9 he could be a good pinch runner/defensive substitute but in and on the KC roster he is nothing more than a 4th outfielder in the minors.

Stats thru Apr 12 .250/.250/.250 0-2 BB/So

Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Derrick Robinson- Robinson has parlayed his late season success in '09 to a decent start in 2010. Everyone knows about Robinson's blazing speed but he also has decent plate discipline. He changed his batting stance last season and that success is carrying over this season with 4 extra base hits out of his first 7 hits. I'm not a believer in Robinson but hopefully he'll prove me and a few others wrong. His speed doesn't fully translate onto the base paths as he as almost as good at getting picked off as he is at stealing. This season will be interesting as Dyson has seemed to squeak ahead of Robinson with the FO but a turn around season by Derrick might change things for him.

Stats thru Apr 12 .333/.391/.619 2-2b 2-3b 2-3 BB/So 2 Sb 2 picked off

Wilmington Blue Rocks

Patrick Norris- Not much needs to be said about Patrick Norris so far. He is a definite speedster but looks to be completely overwhelmed at High A. He is another Royals speedster as evident with his 45 stolen bases at single A ball last season but like the others besides Lough lacks any true pop. 12 strikeouts in 23 abs with 3 singles isn't a good sign for Norris.

Stats thru Apr 12 23 ABs .130/.200/.130 2-12 BB/So 1 SB

Burlington Bees

Hilton Richardson- Richardson like Lough could be more than just a one trick pony that Norris, Duarte, Dyson and Robinson might be. Richardson has a thick body with plenty of muscle but I don't like his crouching hitting approach. He is a good bunter which will earn him alot of praise in the FO but he should have some more pop in that bat than his line drive swing allows. He does have a patient approach at the plate and works the count well but I think long term he is going to have to modify his stance and swing.

Stats thru Apr 12 .250/.348/.250 3-5 BB/So 2 SB

Overall this position is actually somewhat a position of strength for the Royals. While there are quite a few light hitters here there are also a couple 4th OF types and pinch runners. I think Lough is the only legit starter in this group unless Richardson can modify his stance to take advantage of his strength. Dyson and Robinson could turn into 4th OF options though which considering the overall weakness of positional players in the system isn't half bad.

Burlington Bees breakdown from 4-10

I made the 5 hour road trip from Omaha to Burlington IA for the game Saturday and for those of you who enjoy baseball at it's purist form you couldn't find a more quaint and inviting atmosphere. It has everything a minor league baseball fan needs small old community, sweet people and a nice passionate baseball atmosphere.

As for the performers the Bees played exactly as one would expect with the age and experience of the players involved.

Hilton Richardson appears to have the best body of all the Bees strong, thick and and athletic with wide enough shoulders to continue to develop. Richardson's bunt and speed approach might stunt the power that could be inside him though. Also the flat plane of his swing could stop him from maximizing on that possible power. He wasn't tested much in the field and he was allowed to steal in the 9th so it was difficult to tell if his speed was translating on the base paths and in the field.

Video of Richardson

Hilton Richardson 1st AB

Richardson Ks

Hilton Sac Bunt

Wil Myers looks like the real deal even in a off night. He has a quick bat that generates plenty of power as evident in his second AB double to right center. He was a little impatient jumping on the first pitch he saw a couple times during the game. I didn't get to see him catch as he was the DH but he did look to have good speed on the base paths. Myers like Richardson has a frame that could add plenty of muscle and fill out.

Video of Myers

Wil Myers 1st AB

Wil Myers 2nd AB

Myers 3rd AB

Wil Myers 5th AB

Tyler Sample creates a very good plane on his fastball delivering on a nice downward angle keeping the ball low in the zone. He sat 88-91 according to the guns that Bees/Bandits players charting had. His curveball drew a few strikes and he tossed a couple change ups in that 83 mph range. He started to lose the strikezone in the 3rd inning thanks to what I consider was some inconsistent umpiring. Samples release point combined with some added velocity to be a good combination. He is a very big kid who could add alot of muscle and weight to his frame.

Video of Sample

Tyler Sample 1st inning

Sample 1st inning

Sample 2nd Inning

Others

Carlo Testa was impressive with his plate approach and power driving a line shot the opposite way for a HR. He is older for that level though and should be able to dominate. Fernando Cruz struggled putting good contact together but did draw a walk and worked the count well. He also flashed his strong arm at third base. Sam Runion struggled again as he just couldn't find the strikezone. The Royals must have gave up on him as a starter as he came out of the pen for the 9th. Runion was touching 91 but with little control out of a 3/4 arm angle.

Overall if you are a old school baseball fan then you can't beat Burlington. Also Matt Mitchell and Kelvin Herrera were charting pitches. The Bandits charters and Mitchell were comparing whose teammates could throw the hardest and Mitchell didn't hesitate to say Herrera. He said Kelvin was touching 95 the prior game while the Bandit player talked about how easily Shelby Miller can touch mid 90's.

Studs of the Week

Eric Hosmer- The Hos jumped out to an amazing start hitting .500 in the first four games of the season. 8-16 2 3b 1 2b 2-2 Bb/So 1 Sb

Mike Montgomery- Montgomery probably won't make it through May in Wilmington if his first start is any indication. 5 IP 2 h 6-1 So-Bb 1 R 0 ER

Duds of the Week

Johnny Giavotella- Fan favorite Johnny G struggled in his first week in AA going 2-12 with 1 bb 1 so and a 2b while also committing and error in the field.

Tim Melville - Really no bigger dud this week than Melville who couldn't complete an inning of work in his first High A start. Adam Foster tweeted about his control problems during spring training but who knew it could be this bad. Just one start but something to definitely keep an eye on.

2/3 IP 5 H 3 BB 0 Ks 1 HR

Probables Monday

Omaha Bryan Bullington vs. Chase Wright Nashville Sounds (Brewers)

NW Arkansas Blake Johnson vs Jeremy Johnson Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros)

Tues Aaron Crow

Wilmington Blue Rocks Piggyback Jairo Cuevas/Manauris Baez vs Kinston Indians Joe Mahalic

Burlington Bees Unknown

Next Up : More Omaha action

John Lamb and Wil Myers playin catch

Quad City coaches with the minor league Bible

Baseball America Prospect Handbook

Carlo Testa at the plate

Highlight Omaha Royals v Memphis 4-8

The Omaha Royals looked pretty good in their opening game of the season. Kila Ka'aihue had 2 hits including his first Homerun while Jordan Parraz also homered. Two players made their rookie debuts with Omaha, David Lough and Blake Wood. Lough went 2 for 5 with a couple singles while playing a solid centerfield and Wood went one and two thirds giving up one run while striking out two. Wood was hitting 95 according to the stadium gun.
Jordan Parraz pictured

Here is some of the action via video
Kila HR to right
Kila Single in the 1st inning
Jordan Parraz HR to left
David Lough single
Parraz line out
Blake Wood saws off a bat

Overall Parraz hit the ball hard three times, Lough showed off his speed in center and on the base paths running thru a stop sign and scoring on a Scott Thorman double and Wood was throwing good heat.

Other minor league games Montgomery pitched well in a 4-1 Wilmington loss while Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon each had a hit and a walk. John Lamb was inconsistent in his debut in Burlington striking out 5 over 4 innings but also walking 4 and giving up 3 hits and 1 ER while taking the loss in the Bees hope opener 4-0. Aaron Crow worked hard over 4 and 2/3 in his minor league debut giving up 4 hits 3 walks and striking out 2while allowing a unearned run in a 5-1 Naturals win. Crow threw 80 pitches in that span so he'll need to work on getting his workload down in his next start.

Notables

Mike Montgomery 5 IP 2 H 1 R 0 ER 6 So 1 BB
Johnny Giavotella 1-3 2b, BB
Wil Myers 0-4 2ks
Manuel Pina 2-3 HR, BB

Carlo Testa 2-3 1 2b 1 3b, Bb

Hilton Richardson 2-3 bb

Pitching tonight
Omaha Royals Phil Humber
NW Arkansas Mario Santiago
Wilmington Blue Rocks Tim Melville
Burlington Bees Kelvin Herrera

Up Next: I'm heading to Burlington Saturday for the April 10 game versus Quad City. Good chance I'll see Tyler Sample in that third start. I'll also have video of Wil Myers and crew.

David Lough Prior to the game

Again Lough prior to the game

Disco with a big grin

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.

I'm growing tired of GMDM and the scouting staff with the Royals

The Royals not surprisingly announced a couple transactions today sending down Kila Ka'aihue and Blake Wood to Omaha and the Braves didn't want Edgar Osuna so KC sent him to Northwest Arkansas.

It says a little about the Royals and their talent evaluation skills when the Braves won't pay $25k to get back a so called minor league prospect. Even a 4A player is worth 25k. Dayton has steadily acquired flunkies from the Braves system that he was involved in drafting or acquiring and I have grown tired of it. I could see it happening a tad in the beginning but we are in year four and it continues to happen. I wonder if these guys were only drafted by the Braves because they were the only players that Dayton and his Braves staff scouted. Dayton's skill and talents are supposed to lie in talent evaluation but I'm starting to move out of that camp. Everything looked extremely positive early when he acquired Cortes, Soria Blake Johnson and Pimintel in his first season. Of that group only Soria looks to be an impact player of any sort and besides Jordan Parraz possibility Dayton has little to show for any of his other trades. His only Braves pickup that actually looks to be worth something since Davies hasn't improved is Brayan Pena and there are rumors that he is on the trading block.

I lose a little more faith in this scouting staff as well everyday as it just seems that they target only old school conventional thinking. All the "scouts" say Kila only has slider bat speed and walks will dwindle once he's in the majors. I for one think that is total bunk. Kila is disciplined he doesn't walk just because; he walks because he knows what his strengths are. As opposed to many major league hitters that don't have a thought process and just go up there being hacktastic "Mike Jacobs" with their fastball bat speed. And even if the walks lowered what are they going to lower to? 65-75? That mark would still have lead the team last season. And as for all of this fastball/slider bat speed what is the number anyway that a guy can handle? I think Kila can handle a high 80 low 90's fastball with regularity as that is what compromises AAA so is it only the mid to upper 90's? There are 16 starters in the majors according to Fangraphs.com that average a 93+ fastball and only 7 of the reside in the American League so even if he had this phantom slider bat speed I think he would fair alright because of those 7 he would only face 6(minus Greinke) and those are the same 6 (Verlander, CC, Beckett, Lester,Scherzer and King Felix) that get everyone else out. I would say Kila can handle the breaking stuff alright or at least read it or he wouldn't be walking 100+ times 2 years in a row. Oh well I guess it'll workout for Scott Thorman.

This is the same scouting group that said Aviles couldn't hit or play shortstop at the major league level and now say he is the best infielder on the team. Hmm nice to jump on the bandwagon I guess. Now onto some other news within the minor league system.

Mike Montgomery dominated a High Class A game the other day pitching 5 innings allowing 2 hits and no walks or runs. Tim Melville was reported by Adam Foster of Project Prospect via Twitter to have poor fastball control throwing 89-92 consistently straight and touching 94. While his curve and change up flashed above average. Hopefully Melville's control will come around as he is still very young and this will only be his second full season. John Lamb was named by JJ Cooper of Baseball America as showing the most in spring training and could be ready to make a big leap forward among the Royals pitching prospects.

Cut down day is coming and the minor league rosters will be formed very soon. I will be heading to Burlington April 10 hopefully to checkout Wil Myers and either Keaton Hayenga or Tyler Sample. I will be posting some video on here and at Royals Prospects.com.

Breakout Candidates 2010

Last season a few of us landed on David Lough as the 2009 breakout performer and wow we're we right. He flew thru Wilmington, Arkansas and appears to be ready to start opening day in Omaha quite a jump for a off the radar "Non-Prospect". So who do I predict to breakout this season?

Starting Pitcher - Tyler Sample- Many with good reason have spotted Hayenga as the potential springboard guy this season so I won't jump on that bandwagon as well. But I'll spot another Burlington Bee Right hand starter. Sample had better peripherals than Hayenga last season and also finished the season very strong. Sample improved his control quite a bit from his '08 season in the Arizona Rookie league which will help tremendously in the Midwest League that is known for high strikeout to walk ratios. Sample has the body of a workhorse at 6'7 and 245 lbs and a good fastball 92-94 and a possible plus knuckle-curve. Those two pitches should be enough to pitch well in the Midwest league if he maintains the control he showed last season. If Sample makes a similar move forward to what he did last season then he might find himself in Wilmington late in the season where he'll need to show a better change up to be successful.

Positional Player- Johnny Giavotella- As we saw with Bianchi in '08 the Carolina League can be difficult to adjust to for minor leaguers and that was the case for Johnny. Gio suffered to a low BABIP for the season which was extremely low in April(.250) and May(.263) but maintained a patient approach (11.8% BB%) and despite only hitting .258 carried a .351 on base percentage. Expect Giavotella to bounce back in the hitter friendly Texas league if he maintains his patient line drive approach.

Relief Pitcher - Chris "Disco" Hayes- Disco is just too intelligent to not build on his performance at AAA last season. Actually hitters were pretty lucky hitting off Disco to the tune of .367 with a career low 50.3% ground ball rate. Expect both of those numbers to change this season as Disco should move his GB rate higher as he has done in every repeat job season of his career as well as a dip in BABIP. Omaha should have a pretty decent defense behind him with the likes of Irving Falu 2b Wilson Betemit SS, Alex Gordon/Kurt Mertins and a pretty athletic outfield BA/Jarrod Dyson, David Lough, Jordan Parraz and Buck Coats. Disco is heavily reliant on defense and that crew should help him out quite a bit.

Besides these 3 keep an eye on Mario Santiago, Matt Mitchell and Hilton Richardson to also make jumps. I try not to pick guys in the Top 10 as breakout performers because good performances are more expected out to those type players. When I'm talking about breakout as well I am talking about seasons that could vault these guys into the ranks of Top 10 type prospects or move to the major league level in the case of AAA guys. Predicting these are never easy as it is as much about focus and player desire as it is actual skill level.

GMDM trying to make another mistake

Jayson Stark is reporting the Royals are shopping Brayan Pena in hopes of getting another starting pitcher.

This is seems like a stupid move to me. I don't know what KC would get in return for Pena but I doubt they would get above a 5/6 type starting pitcher. That same type of value they could probably pickup off the waiver wire very soon. Why give up a catcher (premium position) who you have under team control for 5 seasons in a non-compete season for a fringe starter at best? It makes no sense at all.

KC will not compete this season they just don't have enough talent on the roster but GMDM doesn't see it. What is his deal? What good is a 5th starter the quality of which is questioned going to do them they aren't going to be in the race anyway? Pena last season proved he is at least a quality backup and could possibly be a starting catcher. He is already better than Jason Kendall but I'm sure GMDM in his idiotic wisdom sees Pena as a catcher who is going to get little playing time behind the very qualified 35+ experienced calls the good game Kendall. Every player is tradeable from Greinke on down to Pena but for a GM to shop him openly is lessening his return.

This GM is continuing his idiotic ways and just the rumor of it shows he has no idea what value is in the game.