*** Official 2018 Royals Repository ***

[duncan_idaho]

The season is upon us, even if spring is not.

2018 MLB Draft Picks
#18
#33 - Compensation (Eric Hosmer)
#34 - Compensation (Lorenzo Cain)
#40 (Competitive Balance Round A)

018 Draft Names to Watch

RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.

Spoiler!

Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16

OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI

Spoiler!

Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.

1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).

Spoiler!

Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.

RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).

Spoiler!

Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.

ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.

Current Prospects to Watch:

OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.

1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.

OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.

OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.

3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.

SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).

1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.

Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),

In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Excellent!

Currently tied with the WSux and 1 game behind The BMore Oreos ........

[ChiTown]

Oh, and Texas has called up a journeyman AAA pitcher for tonight's game. He will most likely throw 6 shutout innings..........

[duncan_idaho]

Guys, time to embrace the suck and hope that a Stephen Strasburg or Casey Mize type emerges for the 2019 draft.

Can’t imagine the White Sox getting worse (though the Orioles could when thy move Manny Machado), but he Royals WILL when they trade Herrera and Moustakas.

Carlos Hernandez at Lexington is a SP to watch, as are Dan Tillo and Gerson Garabito and Evan Steele (all at A+ or A, shocker!).

Hernandez is huge (6-6) and throws hard. Needs to continue to improve his control but is really intriguing moving forward.

If they get lucky and can nab an advanced college arm with high upside with the 2019 selection, KC’s rebuild really starts to take shape. Ultimately, you just take the best player, though, regardless of position. Stockpile talent and trade if necessary.

[Bowser]

Honestly, there should not be a single player on this roster that shouldn't be on the trade block, and that includes Salvy. Maybe especially Salvy.

[Sure-Oz]

@JonHeyman: Sources: royals are ready to start talking trade (in here: a rundown of potential chips) https://frsbaseball.com/mlb/royals/h...rade-business/

[tk13]

Can't say that's too surprising. Although the disappointing part is right there in the article. We basically have one for sure trade chip in Herrera. Duffy has cratered his value, the demand might not be that high for Moose and Kennedy makes too much money. With a payroll sitting at like $130 million I wonder if they're just going to try and shed salary.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by tk13

Can't say that's too surprising. Although the disappointing part is right there in the article. We basically have one for sure trade chip in Herrera. Duffy has cratered his value, the demand might not be that high for Moose and Kennedy makes too much money. With a payroll sitting at like $130 million I wonder if they're just going to try and shed salary.

Yeah, not surprising.

Moustakas is a good chip for a team with an opening. It looks like Atlanta will swing into bringing up Austin Riley. Might as well since they’ve been so aggressive with their other pieces. An injury could open something up there.

The Angels are kind of in an “all-in” mode and would still make sense to me.

Given the way Ian Kinsler has struggled, I could see them sending Moustakas home and playing Cozart at 2B.

A LH power bar like Moustakas would make a lot of sense for the Angels. They also could use Herrera.

The Angels has the worst farm system in Baseball two-three years ago and now are a top 10 system. Royals could pull the same type of quick reverse with another good draft.

[WhawhaWhat]

Study: MLB's balls are not juiced but aerodynamically different

It wasn’t a juiced ball. It was a drag show.

A group of scientists tasked with finding the reason home runs flew at a record rate in Major League Baseball last season believe the ball’s aerodynamic properties – and particularly the drag on its surface – are the culprit and not changes to the core that would cause extra bounciness, according to a report the league released Thursday.

In the midst of a season in which players hit a record 6,105 home runs and emboldened juiced-ball theorists, MLB commissioned 10 scientists to study the source of the spike. Using a combination of Statcast data and laboratory testing, the group found that balls in 2016 and 2017 had lower drag coefficients than their predecessors.

What they didn’t find was why.

“It was something of an unsatisfying result,” said Dr. Alan Nathan, a physicist who has studied the game for decades and chaired the group that wrote the 84-page research paper. “We had a set of baseballs that had a much higher than average drag. We had a set of baseballs that had a much lower average drag. We asked ourselves: ‘What’s the difference between these baseballs?’ ”

Nathan’s conclusion: “We cannot find a single property that we can actually measure other than the drag itself that would account for it. … We do admit that we do not understand this.”

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Study: MLB's balls are not juiced but aerodynamically different

Translation: They're juiced, but we can't figure out how.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Yeah, not surprising.

Moustakas is a good chip for a team with an opening. It looks like Atlanta will swing into bringing up Austin Riley. Might as well since they’ve been so aggressive with their other pieces. An injury could open something up there.

The Angels are kind of in an “all-in” mode and would still make sense to me.

Given the way Ian Kinsler has struggled, I could see them sending Moustakas home and playing Cozart at 2B.

A LH power bar like Moustakas would make a lot of sense for the Angels. They also could use Herrera.

The Angels has the worst farm system in Baseball two-three years ago and now are a top 10 system. Royals could pull the same type of quick reverse with another good draft.

I'd rather give Moose an extension. Hes proven he can play. Herrera will command more in trade value anyway.

[Sure-Oz]

Great start for Duffy 7 2/3 ip 4 hits 1 er 2 walks 5ks

[gblowfish]

Good to see Duffy figure it out.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

A couple more starts like that for Duffy and the Royals should start fielding offers . . . . .

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Guys, time to embrace the suck and hope that a Stephen Strasburg or Casey Mize type emerges for the 2019 draft.

Can’t imagine the White Sox getting worse (though the Orioles could when thy move Manny Machado), but he Royals WILL when they trade Herrera and Moustakas.

Carlos Hernandez at Lexington is a SP to watch, as are Dan Tillo and Gerson Garabito and Evan Steele (all at A+ or A, shocker!).

Hernandez is huge (6-6) and throws hard. Needs to continue to improve his control but is really intriguing moving forward.

If they get lucky and can nab an advanced college arm with high upside with the 2019 selection, KC’s rebuild really starts to take shape. Ultimately, you just take the best player, though, regardless of position. Stockpile talent and trade if necessary.

Out of curiosity, do you not subscribe to this new theory the Cubs are using? It's basically that hitters are way more likely to make it to the majors that pitchers so they used all of their high picks on position players because they are safer.

There's a part of me that thinks maybe we should do that, go with the hitters over the pitchers early and hope you can nab some pitching later.

[BlackHelicopters]

Royals win three in a row. Time to start talking wildcard again.