2014 Royals Repository

[duncan_idaho]

With my 6,000th post on ChiefsPlanet (it only took me 12 years to get here), I bring you: The 2014 Kansas City Royals Repository.

To be discussed here: All things Royals, as they attempt to post another winning season and make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

25-man RosterAvailable HERE

AL Central Standings:

Link

Duncan's Top 20 Royals Prospects

Spoiler!

1) 3B Hunter Dozier ETA: 2015
Dozier started slowly at A+ Wilmington but caught fire in May and June, earning a mid-season promotion to AA Northwest Arkansas. Big, strong kid with good plate discipline skills and solid power who projects to be an above-average glove at 3B with solid power.

2) SS Raul (Adalberto) Mondesi ETA: 2017
Mondesis is the opposite of Dozier…. Started red-hot at Wilmington before back spasms derailed him for a few weeks and hasn’t gotten it going since coming back. Scouting reports have been great – defense and speed both improved over the offseason. Still a chance to be an elite SS, with 40 SB speed, plus glove, .300 average and some pop.

3) LHP Sean Manaea | ETA: 2015
Scouting reports outperform the stat line so far. Missing a ton of bats at A+ but not preventing runs like you’d expect to see. Needs to work deeper into games (gradually working about an inning deeper/month so far this year) and improve control. Walks are biggest concern right now, but could be elevated due to work on extra off-speed offerings. Still has No. 2 starter potential, could be higher if the great control he exhibited before his hip surgery eventually comes back.

4) RHP Kyle Zimmer| ETA: 2015
Should be NO. 1 on the list and is probably the Royals most VALUABLE current prospect, but he hasn’t thrown a ball in 4-5 weeks and had only been throwing for 2-3 weeks when he was shut down then.

5) LHP Brandon Finnegan| ETA: 2015
Top 2014 draft choice is an undersized lefty who will start at A+ Wilmington after anchoring CWS run for TCU. Good fastball, better slider, change that needs work to stick as a starter, but if he sticks, No. 2/No. 3 starter upside. Likely a top 10 or even top 5 pick if he doesn’t miss 1 start in the middle of the college season as a precautionary move.

6) RHP Miguel Almonte| ETA: 2016
Have heard some say Almonte is more advanced as a pitcher at A+ than Yordano Ventura was (comparison because both were cheap signs out of Latin America). Really advanced changeup and a curve that is working out well (where the ‘more advanced’ comment comes from). Fastball velo is good but not great – 92-94. Like Manaea, working on his second-best offspeed pitch and leaning less on his bread-and butter (changeup), which has hurt his numbers a bit.

7) RHP Christian Binford 2017
Reverse case of “don’t just scout stat lines.” Based on his stats at A+, you’d think he was an elite prospect, but there are questions about Binford’s stuff playing up at higher levels. Tall righty with great command of fastball, slider and a good and still developing changeup. None of those pitches profiles as better than average, though, limiting his likely upside to back-end rotation guy.

8) SS Orlando Calixte| ETA: 2016
I still like him more than many. Good combination of SS/MI skills and power. Started hot at NWA but in a slump at moment.

9)LHP Foster Griffin | ETA: 2019
Tall, projectable lefty taken in 2014 draft. Viewed as a great value in the sandwich round and probably would have been KC’s pick at No. 17 if Finnegan hadn’t fallen. High school arm who is going to take a while to develop.

10) RF Jorge Bonifacio| ETA: 2016
Hasn’t hit as well as expected in his second go-round at AA NWA. Power still sapped, and average skills have dipped. Once looked like he might be an option in RF at some point in 2015, now looks like 2016 is optimistic. Still young for his level.

11) 3B/2B Cheslor Cuthbert| ETA: 2016
Cuthbert has had better luck at NWA than Boni and is also extremely young for level. HE’s been moved to 2B since Dozier was promoted, which could put a new spin on Cuthbert’s prospects. If he sticks at 2B, bat plays up much better. Good OBP/plate discipline and solid power, but needs to continue improving contact skills

12) C Chase Vallot| ETA: 2020
Young (just 17) C with tremendous power. One of the top prep bats and a great value for KC where it got him. If he sticks at C, expect him to move slowly, but the bat may force the issue (or force him to another position).

13) C Zane Evans| ETA: 2017
GA Tech product has handled Wilmington better than most RH bats and probably is in line for a promotion to NWA sometime soon. Decent pop, decent skills behind the plate. Could be a nice reserve catcher.

14) RHP Scott Blewett| ETA: 2020
Tall, projectable righty with a fresh arm but some injury concerns on his shoulder that slipped him out of Round 1 of MLB draft. Big time potential.

15) CF Bubba Starling | ETA:
Bubba Starling has great tools. Bubba Starling (still) can’t hit. That’s all I have to say about that.

16) 1B Samir Duenez| ETA:
I still like him, even though the attempt to run him through full season ball at 17 did not go well.

17)LF/RF Elier Hernandez| ETA:
Hernandez still pops up in scouting reports but still is very raw and toolsy.

18) RHP Pedro Fernandez| ETA:
Pop-up player on the same track as Ventura and Almonte. Similar signing, similar profile. One to watch over next few years.

19) SS Marten Gasparini| ETA:
Royals’ most expensive international signing likely moves to CF eventually, but his speed and athleticism are intriguing abilities. Early reports from complex ball are very positive on him.

20) RHP Niklas Stephenson| ETA:
Interesting pop-up candidate who found 10 more MPH on his fastball by using a weighted ball during workouts over the winter. Now sits mid-90s with fastball and is dominating at rookie ball (after having an ERA over 8 there a year ago). Likely promoted to a higher challenge soon.

[WhawhaWhat]

1 pm game today.

Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers Lineup: Aoki 9, Infante 4, Hosmer 3, Butler DH, Gordon 7, Perez 2, Cain 8, Moustakas 5, Escobar 6, Duffy 1.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) June 14, 2014

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

This Tigers team looks a lot more like what I thought it would than their early season showings.

Didn't expect Verlander to be this mortal (he might have honestly fallen off the same cliff Tim Lincecum did), but other than that, the Tigers are - overall - about what I expected at the start of the year.

They're vulenerable.

Shows how important a good to great pen is especially with a dominant closer. Imagine swapping pens with the Tigers... I'm guessing an 8 game swing easy for both Teams.

[Prison Bitch]

Who woulda thunk that in Year 2 of "The trade", neither Shields nor Myers would be the most valuable piece? Baseball is weird that way.


Speaking of weird whatever happened to Chiefs O's Fan? That turd was trolling all year about the trade, but this year he's completely disappeared. Ran off to the hills. I wanted to ask him about it but alas, he jumped ship.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by The God Hypothesis

Shows how important a good to great pen is especially with a dominant closer. Imagine swapping pens with the Tigers... I'm guessing an 8 game swing easy for both Teams.

Well, Oakland signed the venerable Jim Johnson to a megadeal to close games and he was so awful they dumped him into middle relief. They're still able to make do with a backup plan. What is Dombrowski's problem building a decent bullpen?

[Demonpenz]

The Tigers defense is shit. The Royals is the best I have ever seen.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Speaking of weird whatever happened to Chiefs O's Fan?

They banned him from the Royals thread, just like you got banned from the KU basketball thread, moves that have vastly improved both.

[Archie F. Swin]

Probably Q but you can now stream mlb.tv thru chromecast

[BigCatDaddy]

Ok. Deadlines trades. Moose seems to be cementing his spot as at worst a platoon with Valencia so what would we possibly aquire? A RF'er? Utility middle infield guy? Potential back of the rotation starter if someone goes down since Chen is looking like shit? Backup catcher worth a shit?

[TambaBerry]

Need to get rid of aoki the guy blows

[tk13]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Ok. Deadlines trades. Moose seems to be cementing his spot as at worst a platoon with Valencia so what would we possibly aquire? A RF'er? Utility middle infield guy? Potential back of the rotation starter if someone goes down since Chen is looking like shit? Backup catcher worth a shit?

The trade deadline could be a real letdown this year. The 2nd wild card team has brought more teams competing for a playoff spot... but this year it's brutal.

29 of the 30 teams are currently within 7.5 games of a playoff spot. Tampa Bay is probably the only guaranteed seller. The rest of the AL, including Houston, is now within 5 games of a playoff spot. There's another month to shake some of these teams out though. The Cubs/D-Backs/Padres will probably dump guys, but even they are within 6-7 games of a playoff spot. Some of these teams need to fall off or there'll be a few sellers trying to get prospects from the 22-25 teams in the hunt.

[Brianfo]

I'm taking my dad to college world series tomorrow and Finnegan isn't even pitching. That sucks.

[alnorth]

Even though the Tigers won, their bullpen was so terrible that they allowed the Twins to come back from a 11-1 deficit to make it interesting

[C3HIEF3S]

Originally Posted by tk13

The trade deadline could be a real letdown this year. The 2nd wild card team has brought more teams competing for a playoff spot... but this year it's brutal.

29 of the 30 teams are currently within 7.5 games of a playoff spot. Tampa Bay is probably the only guaranteed seller. The rest of the AL, including Houston, is now within 5 games of a playoff spot. There's another month to shake some of these teams out though. The Cubs/D-Backs/Padres will probably dump guys, but even they are within 6-7 games of a playoff spot. Some of these teams need to fall off or there'll be a few sellers trying to get prospects from the 22-25 teams in the hunt.

Absolutely correct.


And there isn't much on Tampa besides Longoria. There's also Loney, but he is a 1st baseman that hits for average and little power. We already have two of those so no on him.
There's no power hitter on that team either, Longoria leads them with 7.

The only hope to get another bat at the deadline is, as you mentioned tk, to hope some teams fall off and fall off hard.

If I were to bet, the team that you see right now is going to be what we see in August/September.

[cmh6476]

Originally Posted by C3HIEF3S

Absolutely correct.


And there isn't much on Tampa besides Longoria. There's also Loney, but he is a 1st baseman that hits for average and little power. We already have two of those so no on him.
There's no power hitter on that team either, Longoria leads them with 7.

The only hope to get another bat at the deadline is, as you mentioned tk, to hope some teams fall off and fall off hard.

If I were to bet, the team that you see right now is going to be what we see in August/September.

I agree. I wonder if they wouldn't look to grab a utility guy for a minor league arm or player to be named or cash or something. But I also wouldn't be surprised if we just ride this team wherever they take us.

[CoMoChief]

what a great game that was today.