*** 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.

[OmahaChief]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Just out of curiosity - how good could a team filled with players who came up with the Royals be - right now? Let's say the criteria is they were either drafted or spent the majority of their minor leagues with the Royals.

C - Perez
1B - Hos
2B - Whit
SS - Modesi?
3B - Moose
LF - Gordo?
CF - Dyson?
RF - Myers
DH - Bring back Beltran lol?

SP - Greinke
SP - Duffy
SP - ?
SP - ?
SP - ?

RP - Herrera
RP - Holland
RP - ?

Who am I forgetting about?

Gotta add Junis to the rotation along with Mike Montgomery and Sean Manea

[Prison Bitch]

That's honestly not that great a team

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

That's honestly not that great a team

BUT THE ZOBRIST TRADE RUINED THE FARM SYSTEM

[OKchiefs]

So does anyone know if there was been any sort of change in recent years in either the scouting department or in the minor league development system? Since it's no secret the struggles we've had with finding and developing talent, I'd like to hope maybe some changes have been made.

[cmh6476]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Just out of curiosity - how good could a team filled with players who came up with the Royals be - right now? Let's say the criteria is they were either drafted or spent the majority of their minor leagues with the Royals.

C - Perez
1B - Hos
2B - Whit
SS - Modesi?
3B - Moose
LF - Gordo?
CF - Dyson?
RF - Myers
DH - Bring back Beltran lol?

SP - Greinke
SP - Duffy
SP - ?
SP - ?
SP - ?

RP - Herrera
RP - Holland
RP - ?

Who am I forgetting about?

1B Kila Kilahue
2B Johnny Giovatella
SS Orlando Calixte
3B Cheslor Cuthbert
OF Jarrod Dyson
OF Will Myers
OF Paulo Orlando
DH Billy Butler

SP Sean Maneaa
SP Mike Montgomery
SP Zack Greinke
SP Mike Minor
SP Brandon Finnegan

RP Greg Holland
RP Kelvin Herrera
RP Joakim Soria
RP Jeremy Jeffress
RP Scott Alexander

Yeah, still pretty shitty

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by cmh6476

1B Kila Kilahue
2B Johnny Giovatella
SS Orlando Calixte
3B Cheslor Cuthbert
OF Jarrod Dyson
OF Will Myers
OF Paulo Orlando
DH Billy Butler

SP Sean Maneaa
SP Mike Montgomery
SP Zack Greinke
SP Mike Minor
SP Brandon Finnegan

RP Greg Holland
RP Kelvin Herrera
RP Joakim Soria
RP Jeremy Jeffress
RP Scott Alexander

Yeah, still pretty shitty

Mike Minor came from Atlanta. Jeffress was acquired in the Greinke trade.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

You're always bright eyed about these trade returns. More than likely they all suck ass.





The Reds got 3 good pieces from us, ESP Cody Reed who was #30 overall in the next BA rankings. All 3 sucked ass for them. Way better pieces than we got here obv.

I don’t like this return. Each of the three guys they got has enough ceiling to make it pay off huge... but they also all have some significant risk.

I can see why they did it - and always try to ask myself what the team is seeing/doing when it makes a deal - but I actually don’t agree with it in this case.

Like I said, I don’t think they got a surefire everyday player, and that should have happen d for the top reliever on the market, especially this early.

[Great Expectations]

I thought Soria was a rule 5 guy.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by OKchiefs

So does anyone know if there was been any sort of change in recent years in either the scouting department or in the minor league development system? Since it's no secret the struggles we've had with finding and developing talent, I'd like to hope maybe some changes have been made.

They’ve shifted their draft focus in recent years and have gone away specifically from spending early picks on the projectable HS arms like Foster Griffin and Scott Blewett and Nolan Watson in the past two years.

It’s basically the same team doing the drafts, but different focus.

The organization has loosened its pitching development guidelines over the past few years as well and is less focused on forcing guys to be Fb-Change-Curve Arsenal’s. They’re letting guys with great sliders throw the sliders and not taking them away. Part of that was sending Bill Fischer out to pasture.

They did a bad job adjusting to the draft after the slot system went into place. I wouldn’t say they’ve struggled to find talent. They just haven’t been as good as a small market needs to be to keep the pipeline pumping.

I think there are still some development bugs, but development bugs start as scouting/drafting bugs, IMO. I’m of the camp that believes you need a combination of tools and skills/savvy to develop as a hitter, and he Royals have traditionally been very tools heavy in acquiring players.

Bubba Starling is the most talented physical player the royals have probably ever drafted and one of the 10-15 best raw athletic products in the draft in the past decade. Just a great example of tools vs skills.

Two cases of bad luck also significantly shift the perception. If Ventura lives and Kyle Zimmer isnt doing his best Sam Jackson impersonation (Mr. Glass), it’s very different.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don’t like this return. Each of the three guys they got has enough ceiling to make it pay off huge... but they also all have some significant risk.

I can see why they did it - and always try to ask myself what the team is seeing/doing when it makes a deal - but I actually don’t agree with it in this case.

Like I said, I don’t think they got a surefire everyday player, and that should have happen d for the top reliever on the market, especially this early.

The timing is the strangest part for me.

Why make the deal this early unless you really love your return?

Hard to argue that this is that kind of 'pull the trigger early because you can't get that much late' return for Moore. Especially for a reliever when there are ALWAYS a few teams looking to add relief pitching at the deadline. Maybe his concern was that more teams would be looking to sell at that point; maybe Britton has recovered his form, maybe Oakland gives up and looks to move Treinan with more control, maybe Cincy peddles Iglesias. There are other teams that could put relievers on the block and potentially dillute the pool.

Perhaps Moore was trying to beat that rush.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Bubba Starling is the most talented physical player the royals have probably ever drafted and one of the 10-15 best raw athletic products in the draft in the past decade. Just a great example of tools vs skills.

Two cases of bad luck also significantly shift the perception. If Ventura lives and Kyle Zimmer isnt doing his best Sam Jackson impersonation (Mr. Glass), it’s very different.

The great misnomer - the 'hit tool'.

'Hit' isn't a tool - as you've noted, it's a skill. Now some could argue that guys with quick wrists and excellent eyesight are going to naturally be able to hit the ball squarely more often, but there are a lot of guys who fit that bill who never develop a good enough path to the ball to have a playable 'hit tool'...because hit isn't a tool, it's a skill.

For an everyday player, the hit tool is the most important and it's not a particularly close question, IMO. Raw power means shit if the hit tool isn't there and it can't translate. Ultimately that's what doomed Starling - his hit tool was abysmal; still is. So his offensive profile was a mansion built on sand. All that raw power and game speed simply didn't matter when he couldn't put barrel to ball.

For me, hit tool for hitters and command for pitchers are the key. And I don't mean control - I mean command within the zone. Guys that can command their fastball to all 4 quadrants are so far ahead of everyone else, provided they have basic threshold velocity (91-92 or so for a starting pitcher, IMO). If a pitcher doesn't demonstrate command in the zone, they're probably not gonna get very far unless they're Jordan Hicks and throwing 105.

[banecat]

How many left handed minor league pitchers did the royals give up during their WS run? Was it two, three, or four? I wanna say three. I'm asking and not looking because I'm sure that someone here knows it

[WhawhaWhat]

Ned Yost says Mondesi will start to play shortstop a few times a week.

— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) June 19, 2018

[Sure-Oz]

@BlairKerkhoff: Florida & Royals draft pick Jackson Kowar Ks side for 2nd time vs. Texas. Has 11 Ks, 103 pitches. Gators lead 5-0 T7

[Sure-Oz]

@Shauncore: Hmm... the plot thickens a bit. If the Nationals package was the best offer even after getting into a bidding war (we assume), then either:

Folks overvalued Herrera
Royals really like the guys they got
Relievers are being undervalued perhaps https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/s...35046865903617