What nicknames should Royals players wear on their jerseys?
6/16/2017 - MLB will loosen the rules for “Players Weekend.” Baseball has a reputation for being a stodgy, old Expand
6/16/2017 - MLB will loosen the rules for “Players Weekend.” Baseball has a reputation for being a stodgy, old school sport, unable to connect with the youths of today. In an effort to change that and appease you millennials, baseball has decided to loosen up and let its hair down, at least for one weekend. Major League Baseball will have a “Players Weekend” (not to be confused with “Player’s Ball”), which will allow players to express themselves.
Major League Baseball will relax its uniform rules for a weekend later this season, allowing players to put nicknames on the back of their jerseys, wear fluorescent-colored shoes and personalize a patch paying tribute to someone instrumental in their development, according to a memo obtained by Yahoo Sports.
The event, called Players Weekend, is planned for Aug. 25-27 and was negotiated between the league and MLB Players Association.
Nicknames on player uniforms have been done before, most notably by the short-lived XFL, which spawned the notorious Collapse
Royals Rumblings - News for June 16, 2017
6/16/2017 - The Royals are earning frequent flier miles to Dongtown. Royals Rumblings - News for June 16, Expand
6/16/2017 - The Royals are earning frequent flier miles to Dongtown. Royals Rumblings - News for June 16, 2017
Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at all the dongs the Royals have hit.
The Royals aren’t exactly more dependent upon the home run relative to the other teams in the league, but their inability to consistently reach base (their .297 team OBP is still worst in the American League) will continue to hamstring their run production. The power is real and the runs generated from that power is right in line with what we should expect. But should they experience a brownout, their low OBP means they will suffer more than the league average team and the runs will go dry. Think early April. That could be a scenario the Royals revisit for a week or two at some point this season.
Buster Olney writes the Royals are in trade purgatory.
The peers of K.C. GM Dayton Moore say he has indicated to other clubs that it’s merely possible that the Royals will be sellers before the deadline. Collapse
Royals series preview: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
6/15/2017 - A Trout-free series The Royals venture into the gravitational pull of the gaping maw of Disneyland Expand
6/15/2017 - A Trout-free series The Royals venture into the gravitational pull of the gaping maw of Disneyland to face The The Angels Angels, who have been staring into the sun, eyes dried open, ever since a thumb injury felled their star center fielder Mike Trout. Ned Yost’s merry band of nouveau dong-hangers enter the four-game tilt with a suddenly potent offense, averaging [some much higher number of runs per game than they did in their anemic first month]. How about that?
The game times and pitching matchups are as follows:
Thursday, June 15, 2017, 9:07 PM CDT - Matt Strahm (L) versus Ricky Nolasco
Friday, June 16, 2017, 9:07 PM CDT - Ian Kennedy versus Jesse Chavez
Saturday, June 17, 2017, 7:15 PM CDT - Jake Junis versus Alex Meyer
Sunday, June 18, 2017, 3:15 PM CDT - Jason Vargas (L) versus JC Ramirez
One good pitcher going this weekend for both teams combined. Everyone not named Jason Vargas has been within spitting distance of replacement level. This could be a mess of a series. Collapse
Royals Rumblings - News for June 15, 2017
6/15/2017 - Craig Brown advocates standing pat for now:
What all this means is the Royals aren’t doing any Expand
6/15/2017 - Craig Brown advocates standing pat for now:
What all this means is the Royals aren’t doing any damage to the franchise by taking stock over the next 30 to 40 days, figuring out where they stand among their AL peers. They’re not missing out on anything by waiting. It’s the smart play. It’s the correct play. See how the next month of games shakes out before making a decision. We may think we know the correct course of action, but in this environment, it’s important to make absolutely sure. There’s plenty of time. The Royals will use it.
One area where the Royals cannot afford to wait is on the starting rotation. It’s a bit of a crisis at this point. Danny Duffy and Nate Karns are sidelined. Jason Hammel and Ian Kennedy have been underwhelming. Jake Junis filled in admirably in San Diego on Sunday, giving the team innings when they were desperately needed. At this point however, the only arm the Royals can rely upon is Jason Vargas, who spun another beauty on Tuesday night in San Collapse
Is 2017 finally the Year of the Starling?
6/14/2017 - Bubba’s just one level away from the Bigs. In June 2011, the Kansas City Royals owned the fifth Expand
6/14/2017 - Bubba’s just one level away from the Bigs. In June 2011, the Kansas City Royals owned the fifth overall pick in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. They were interested in four arms—Geritt Cole, Danny Hultzen, and Trevor Bauer out of college, and Dylan Bundy out of high school. Of course, the four teams ahead of Kansas City picked those four players.
The 2011 draft was actually quite a draft. Cole, Bauer, and Bundy have all started games at the MLB level, and there were a fair number of names further down the draft that are pretty big names nowadays. Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, George Springer, Jose Fernandez, Sonny Gray, and Jackie Bradley Jr. were all drafted in the first round. So too were Javier Baez, Kolten Wong, Joe Panik, Michael Fulmer, and Trevor Story.
Kansas City drafted none of the above. Rather, they picked a local kid from Johnson County, Kansas, a multi-sport star that they lured away from being a quarterback at the University of Nebraska with a record Collapse
Matt Strahm to start Thursday against the Angels
6/14/2017 - You asked for it, you got it, Matt Strahm The Royals were faced with a dilemma. Danny Duffy is Expand
6/14/2017 - You asked for it, you got it, Matt Strahm The Royals were faced with a dilemma. Danny Duffy is progressing through his injury recovery quickly, but is still a ways away from returning. Nate Karns originally seemed like he’d be back now but has not been heard from for a while. Eric Skoglund was sensational in his major league debut, but failed to pitch more than two innings in either of the subsequent starts.
The Royals could have asked Chris Young or Travis Wood to make a spot start; neither could have pitched for long and while both are veterans with starting experience but they’ve also both pitched atrociously all season. Jake Junis has already joined the rotation. If the Royals didn’t want to give Skoglund a third strike who was left to take the mound?
Matt Strahm will start Thursday. The Royals want to stretch him out and take a look. 65-70 pitches to start.— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) June 13, 2017
Strahm will start Thursday night’s game against the Angels, although he will Collapse
TWitM: Northwest Arkansas hunting for first-half title
6/13/2017 - Soler Power returns to Omaha This is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the Expand
6/13/2017 - Soler Power returns to Omaha This is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: "Who had a good week?"
Today, we’ll cover results from Monday, June 5 through Sunday, June 11.
AAA Omaha Storm Chasers (32-29)
schedule | roster
We will kick of this week with a career milestone: center fielder Terrance Gore hit the first home run of his professional career. Props to the longtime voice of Chasers, Mark Nasser, for the call here:
Another Gore highlight, because players listed at 5’7” shouldn’t be able to rob home runs like this:
Outfielder Jorge Soler joined the Chasers’ lineup on Monday after a demotion from Kansas City. He only had six hits in seven games this week, but five (!) were home runs and the other was a double. Do you think and .846 slugging percentage is sustainable?
Rounding out the Omaha outfield, Bubba Starling muscled out two doubles and two Collapse
MLB Draft 2017: Royals select high school 1B Nick Pratto
6/13/2017 - He features a smooth swing and plate discipline With the #14 overall pick, the Royals have Expand
6/13/2017 - He features a smooth swing and plate discipline With the #14 overall pick, the Royals have selected first baseman Nick Pratto, a high schooler out of Huntington Beach, California. Pratto is a left-handed hitter, described as having a smooth swing and an advanced bat for a high school player. Baseball America had him ranked as the #24 prospect on their board.
Unlike many raw high school players, Pratto has been lauded for having terrific plate discipline. He is still developing his power, although many feel with his 6’1’’ 195 pound frame, the home runs will come.
At Minor League Ball, John Sickels writes about Pratto’s swing.
Drawing praise for his pure hitting ability, Pratto combines above-average bat speed, consistent hitting mechanics, and an exceptional feel for the strike zone, showing the ability to handle both fastballs and breaking balls. He may be the best pure hitter in the prep ranks, and he has enough strength to hit for substantial power as he matures.
Baseball America Collapse
Players the Royals could draft in the first round
6/12/2017 - Upside! Pitchability! Baseball players! The Royals will have the 14th overall pick in tonight’s Expand
6/12/2017 - Upside! Pitchability! Baseball players! The Royals will have the 14th overall pick in tonight’s draft which you can watch live on MLB Network or follow live here at Royals Review starting at 6pm CT. The Royals have not selected this high since 2013, when they drafted Hunter Dozier with the eighth overall pick.
The top pick belongs to the Minnesota Twins, who are expected to choose between California high school pitcher Hunter Greene or University of Louisville two-way player Brendan McKay. It is a bit more difficult to ascertain who will be available by the time the Royals select, but here is a summary of players who could still be on the board.
The High School Pitchers
RHP Shane Baz, Concordia Lutheran High School (Tomball, Texas)
Baseball America rank: #11
The Royals have been linked to a number of high school pitchers, including Baz. The 6’03’ right-hander has a clean delivery with a mid-90s fastball, but is not your typical Texas flamethrower since he has a deep repertoire of Collapse
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What’s wrong with Kelvin Herrera?
6/16/2017 - He hasn’t been his normal flame-throwing self There were any number of question marks coming into Expand
6/16/2017 - He hasn’t been his normal flame-throwing self There were any number of question marks coming into the 2017 season, but if there was a certainty column, Kelvin Herrera was one of the few Royals occupying it. Things have not gone as planned. Thus far, Herrera has a 5.13 ERA in 27 appearances, far and away his worst career mark. He has already given up seven home runs, just two shy of his career high set back in 2013. I’m sure you remember that season and/or the season long Twitter meltdown that went with it.
These numbers sting a little more when we remember how good Herrera was last season, when he set career highs in strikeouts, K/9, FIP, xFIP and fWAR. Much of that was due to the shiny new slider that he debuted during the Royals 2015 playoff run. I have a long history of terrible player evaluations, but I was pretty certain that Herrera would end hitters in 2016 because of that slider. This gif still gives me warm and fuzzies.
Unfortunately, that pitch has played a major role Collapse
Five Straight Ws: Royals 7, Angels 2
6/16/2017 - The winning streak continued on Thursday night. The Royals have the hottest offense in baseball. Expand
6/16/2017 - The winning streak continued on Thursday night. The Royals have the hottest offense in baseball. That sentence would have been unimaginable a few weeks ago. But now that they have the hottest offense in baseball...just look at what’s come as a result.
Kansas City beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 7-2, to kick off a four-game series on Thursday.
Matt Strahm made his first MLB start for the Royals, and he did a fantastic job. Strahm breezed through five innings despite a 70-pitch limit. He needed just 68 pitches to get his 15 outs. The only blemish on his resume was surrendering an unearned, first-inning run.
The Angels led 1-0 before the Royals took over in the top of the second. Alex Gordon swatted a two-out RBI double to right to tie the game at one. Officially, Alcides Escobar scored on an error by Kole Calhoun, but I thin that’s a bad call. He would have scored before Calhoun bobbled the ball on the warning track.
Whit Merrifield added a ground-rule double after that to Collapse
What if the Royals have one more run in them?
6/15/2017 - There may be some #RoyalsDevilMagic left. We left them for dead. Again. There was a pulse, but the Expand
6/15/2017 - There may be some #RoyalsDevilMagic left. We left them for dead. Again. There was a pulse, but the patient was on life support. Just like in 2013. And in 2014. And in 2016. And yet each time, the patient came back to life, if even momentarily.
Yet we didn’t learn our lesson. The Royals had a disastrous month of April, dropping 16 of 23 games, with a historically awful offense. Eric Hosmer couldn’t hit hit way out of a paper bag. Raul Mondesi looked overwhelmed. Brandon Moss couldn’t buy a hit. Alex Gordon looked finished. Jason Hammel and Travis Wood were disasters. The team looked old. Slow. Washed up. A former champion in decline.
And yet, six weeks later, the Royals have somehow climbed into the periphery of contention. A lot of these factors haven’t changed - Alex Gordon is still having a terrible season, Travis Wood is a human surrender flag, and wake me up when Brandon Moss climbs over the Mendoza Line. To make matters worse, the Royals are missing two-fifths of their rotation Collapse
Royals bats stay hot in 7-2 win over Giants
6/14/2017 - The Royals like the west coast Mike Moustakas is pretty good.
Michael ended a 17-year drought by Expand
6/14/2017 - The Royals like the west coast Mike Moustakas is pretty good.
Michael ended a 17-year drought by becoming the first Royals player to ever hit a baseball into McCovey Cove. It went in on a hop, but I’m going to count it.
The 415-foot home run opened up the scoring in the 2nd inning, but his bomb wouldn’t be the only one.
Jorge Bonifacio hit a two-run homer after Whit Merrifield opened up the inning with a bunt single.
Lorenzo Cain promptly followed with a solo shot of his own, his seventh on the season and his fifth this June, to put the Royals up 4-0.
For those keeping track at home, his five June home runs equals the most he has ever hit in a month, and we are only 14 days in. He hit five homers back in July of 2015, as well.
Lorenzo has been one of several red-hot Royals, entering this afternoon’s contest slugging at a .614 clip in June.
It goes without saying that Moustakas is one of those other red-hot Royals, as evidenced by this:
#Royals Mike Moustakas has 25 RBI over Collapse
Royals Rumblings - News for June 14, 2017
6/14/2017 - Happy Flag Day! Royals Rumblings - News for June 14, 2017
The Royals will turn to Matt Strahm in Expand
6/14/2017 - Happy Flag Day! Royals Rumblings - News for June 14, 2017
The Royals will turn to Matt Strahm in the rotation after Miguel Almonte had some shoulder tightness.
“He was going to be a starter eventually,” Yost said. “We just kept looking at the options. When Almonte got hurt, we just don’t have any other rostered options that are ready. You can always put him back in the bullpen. Let’s look at it and see: Maybe we can have a Duffy-type situation.”
Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg discusses day two of the draft.
This past season, Tillo used his mid-90s fastball, a slider and developing changeup to hold hitters to a .192 average while striking out 54 in 41 innings. He plans on signing with the Royals.
"He's built like a starter [and] looks like a starter," Royals director of scouting Lonnie Goldberg said. "He has a chance to be a middle-of-the-rotation arm. … This is the guy you dream on."
Not a bad birthday present.
The American League Wild Card race could be crazy.
The Collapse
Royals series preview: The San Francisco Giants
6/13/2017 - These are not the 2014 Giants. Without dirt-biking enthusiast Madison Bumgarner, the Giants Expand
6/13/2017 - These are not the 2014 Giants. Without dirt-biking enthusiast Madison Bumgarner, the Giants haven’t exactly set the baseball world ablaze.
Perennial preseason favorites to at least clinch a Wild Card, the Giants have played absolutely miserable baseball in 2017. Rather than being in the thick of the playoff hunt, the Giants are duking it out with the Padres for the last spot in the NL West with only the Phillies holding a worse record than those two teams. With just how bad the Padres are fresh in everyone’s minds, up until the Royals took the last two games in that series, the Giants owned a worse record than San Diego.
Here are the game times and pitching matchups:
Tuesday, June 13, 9:15 PM CDT - Jason Vargas (L) versus Ty Blach (L)
Wednesday, June 14, 2:45 PM CDT - Jason Hammel versus Johnny Cueto
Ty Blach’s ERA might look nice, but a deeper dive reveals a K-rate so low that he might as well be a Twin. A groundball pitcher living on contact and not walking guys, this matchup Collapse
Royals Rumblings - News for June 13, 2017
6/13/2017 - Dayton Moore adds to his farm system. Royals Rumblings - News for June 13, 2017
Dayton Moore says Expand
6/13/2017 - Dayton Moore adds to his farm system. Royals Rumblings - News for June 13, 2017
Dayton Moore says they drafted the best player available in Nick Pratto, their first-round pick.
"It’s too unpredictable to do it any other way," Moore said on Monday night. "We’re just going to take the guy that we think has got a chance to be an All-Star."...
"Young hitters, the most important attribute is they learn to center the ball on the bat in different areas of the strike zone," Moore said. "He has the ability to do that. He also has the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark.""It’s too unpredictable to do it any other way," Moore said on Monday night. "We’re just going to take the guy that we think has got a chance to be an All-Star."
That feeling when you get drafted by the #Royals. pic.twitter.com/37Kh9cgkEI
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) June 13, 2017
Lee Judge writes that different ballparks produce different results for hitters.
In Kauffman Stadium dead left and right are probably Collapse
Royals Draft Day One Open Thread
6/12/2017 - Who will be the newest player to be #RaisedRoyal? The newest member of the Royals organization Expand
6/12/2017 - Who will be the newest player to be #RaisedRoyal? The newest member of the Royals organization will be announced tonight, with day one of the MLB draft taking place. Rounds one and two will take place tonight beginning at 6 p.m. CT, to be aired on MLB Network and MLB.com. The Royals select at #14, but will also make a selection in round two (#52) as well as their competitive balance pick at #73. Rounds three through ten will take place on Tuesday beginning at noon, with the draft concluding on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Complete Royals draft coverage
What you need to know about the Royals and the draft
Players that could be available at #14
Shaun Newkirk’s players the Royals should look for early in the draft
Free profiles of the top 70 players available in the draft at Minor League Ball
Draft bonus slot values
A breakdown of who scouting director Lonnie Goldberg drafts
Organizational fits for the Royals
Local players that could be selected in the draft
Royals Review Radio: Draft Collapse
Royals Rumblings - News for June 12, 2017
6/12/2017 - I wish they all could be California ballparks. Royals Rumblings - News for June 12, 2017
Ned Yost Expand
6/12/2017 - I wish they all could be California ballparks. Royals Rumblings - News for June 12, 2017
Ned Yost gave Alex Gordon some ribbing over his power outage.
“Since him and Gore were tied for homers, it was important to him to get one more than Gore got,” Yost said, a deadpan expression on his face. “He went out and did it today.”
Salvador Perez left the game early as a precaution.
“[He] took a swing and felt a little tightness in here,” Yost said, pointing to his left side. “He didn’t say nothing, and we kept prying, and he said: ‘Yeah, it’s a little tight.’ I’m not taking any chances.”
Rustin Dodd profiles rookie outfielder Jorge Bonifacio.
The Royals were interested. They liked his ability to hit. Moore liked his intangibles. He was secure and confident and intelligent. And he had the family pedigree. Still, the bonus demand was high, and other teams were skeptical of his athleticism. Bonifacio lacked the speed to play center field. He would likely end up as a corner outfielder.
“A lot Collapse
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Sporcle Friday: Royals rookies to throw 100 innings
6/16/2017 - They’re the currency of baseball. Dayton Moore said pitching is the currency of baseball, and Expand
6/16/2017 - They’re the currency of baseball. Dayton Moore said pitching is the currency of baseball, and developing young pitching has been the backbone of this organization for decades. However it has been a bit more difficult to develop arms in recent years. The inaugural Royals club had four rookies in the rotation toss 100 innings or more - the Royals have had just four rookie starters throw at least 100 innings in a season in the last decade.
Overall there have been 35 Royals pitchers that tossed at least 100 innings in a season. Some turned into stars, others turned into has-beens. Most were starters, but there are a few relievers in there as well. Of the 35 Royals rookies to toss 100 innings, how many can you name? Collapse
Please welcome new writer Patrick Brennan
6/15/2017 - Moar Kevins. Please join me in welcoming our newest writer, Patrick Brennan. He is the co-editor Expand
6/15/2017 - Moar Kevins. Please join me in welcoming our newest writer, Patrick Brennan. He is the co-editor of Kings of Kauffman and has written articles for Beyond the Boxscore and filled in as Royals GM in the Minor League Ball mock draft.
Hello Royals Review! My name is Patrick Brennan and I am proud to say that I will now be writing here.
Born and raised in the Kansas City area, I've been a Royals fan my whole life. I've seen it all, from a 56-106 season to a World Series parade.
My love for the Royals has translated to my overall liking of baseball. As passionate as I was about the sport, I wanted to express it. That's when I started to look for places to write.
I started out writing at several SB Nation blogs along with contributing at Kings of Kauffman. Shortly after I started at Kings of Kauffman, I took a role as co-editor, which is a position I've held for the past couple of months
A lot of my writing will circle around sabermetrics. I hold a strong passion for this part of the Collapse
Royals 2017 draft recap and thoughts
6/15/2017 - Who did the Royals take? So Christmas in June is over. This years draft was a week later than Expand
6/15/2017 - Who did the Royals take? So Christmas in June is over. This years draft was a week later than usual, but that just gave us more time to be excited I suppose. The Royals actually had a first round pick this year, and in fact they had three early-ish picks too, a huge step up from last year.
First round: 1B Nick Pratto, Huntington Beach HS (CA)
When the Royals took prep first baseman Nick Pratto at 14th overall I still had some guys on my personal draft board ahead of him available. Pratto didn’t go especially early or anything. He was ranked in the mid-to-late teens by most sites (save for Baseball America who ranked him at 24th overall), so it’s not like what the Yankees did with Clark Schmidt. However I think in regards of who was still left, you could make an argument that Pratto was a reach. If we go solely by Baseball America’s rankings (using different sites will yield different results of course) here is who was still left:
J.B. Bukauskas - #6
Alex Faedo - #10
Evan White - Collapse
2017 MLB Draft: Day 3 open thread
6/14/2017 - Find some diamonds in the rough today. The 2017 MLB draft concludes today with rounds 11 through Expand
6/14/2017 - Find some diamonds in the rough today. The 2017 MLB draft concludes today with rounds 11 through 40, beginning at 11 a.m. CT on MLB.com. The Royals will have the 15th selection in every round. Look for some local kids to get selected today.
Here are your Royals drafted so far:
Round
Overall
Player
Position
School
1
14
Nick Pratto
1B
Huntington Beach HS (Huntington Beach, CA)
2
52
M.J. Melendez
C
Westminster Christian School (Palmetto Ba, FL)
2
73
Evan Steele
LHP
Chipola Junior College
3
81
Daniel Tillo
LHP
Iowa Western Community College
4
120
Michael Gigliotti
CF
Lipscomb University
5
150
Charlie Neuweiler
RHP
McClancy HS (Elmhurst, NY)
6
180
Tyler Zuber
RHP
Arkansas State University
7
210
Brewer Hicklen
OF
University of Alabama-Birmingham
8
240
Holden Capps
LHP
University of Central Oklahoma
9
270
J.C. Cloney
LHP
University of Arizona
10
300
Jordan Floyd
LHP
Kansas State University Collapse
Everybody gets a hit (or two!) as Royals pummel Giants 8-1
6/14/2017 - It was a continuation of a suddenly very awake offense. In the terrible, horrible, no good, very Expand
6/14/2017 - It was a continuation of a suddenly very awake offense. In the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month of April, the Kansas City Royals scored a pathetic 2.73 runs per game. It was historically bad; everyone was stone cold and the Royals, as a result, ended the month with seven wins and 16 losses. In May, the Royals scored a rather normal 3.96 runs per game, and were significantly more successful.
This June, the Kansas City offense has continued to get exponentially better. The Royals are scoring 6.1 runs per game in their 11 games this month. One of those games was tonight’s thrashing of the once-proud San Fransisco Giants in an 8-1 beatdown.
After Brandon Crawford squeezed a sacrifice fly out of Jason Vargas in the second inning, scoring Buster Posey and giving the Giants a 1-0 lead, the Royals offense did their ‘Keep the Line Moving’ thing that has worked so well in their 2015 World Series year—and their 2014 American League Championship year, where they faced these Giants in Collapse
MLB Draft 2017: Royals Draft Day 2 schedule, picks, tracker
6/13/2017 - We cover rounds three through ten today. Today is the day the scouring department really earns its Expand
6/13/2017 - We cover rounds three through ten today. Today is the day the scouring department really earns its pay. The first rounders taken on the first day are well known to most, and tomorrow will mostly be fliers taken on players, but today is where franchises get built. The Royals will select rounds three through ten today, rounds where they found players like Danny Duffy, Wil Myers, Whit Merrifield, Greg Holland, Mike Sweeney, David DeJesus, David Cone, Tom Gordon, Bo Jackson, and Mike MacFarlane.
Day two of the draft begins today at noon CT. The draft will not be televised, but you can follow along at MLB.com. The Royals will have the 15th pick in every round.
Baseball America best available:
#29 SS Nick Allen, Francis Parker School (San Diego, CA)
#33 RHP Blayne Enlow, St. Amant HS (St. Amant, LA)
#38 RHP Tanner Burns, Decatur HS (Decatur, AL)
#39 SS Brady McConnell, Merritt Island HS (Merritt Island, FL)
#41 RHP Tristan Beck, Stanford University
#58 RHP James Marinan, Parka Vista HS Collapse
2017 MLB Draft: Royals select catcher, lefty pitcher in second round
6/13/2017 - The Royals wrap up the first night of the draft The Royals concluded the first night of the draft Expand
6/13/2017 - The Royals wrap up the first night of the draft The Royals concluded the first night of the draft by selecting catcher M.J. Melendez in the second round, the 52nd overall pick. Melendez attends Westminster Christian School in the suburbs of Miami, moving there from Montgomery, Alabama after his father Mervyl was named head coach of the Florida International University baseball program. Melendez is a left-handed hitting catcher with power, one of the top catchers available in this draft.
Melendez stands at 6’1’’ but sets up with a low target, according to Baseball America. He has quick feet and a strong arm, sometimes throwing to second from his knees. Melendez has good power for a prep hitter, but may need to develop his hit tool as his swing is a bit open and he does not hit for contact consistently. Baseball America ranked him the 52nd best prospect, writing:
He has a bit of a high hand set with some length to his swing. Melendez uses a leg kick to get his lower half started and Collapse
Ups and Down - EskyTragic edition
6/12/2017 - What are the Royals even doing, anymore? I have some stuff to say about the Royals and these Expand
6/12/2017 - What are the Royals even doing, anymore? I have some stuff to say about the Royals and these players but it will make more sense after we get through the actual ratings. So off we go. Here are last month’s Ups and Downs.
The Good
2B Whit Merrifield - Key Stats: 146 wRC+, .923 OPS, .359 BABIP
Two-Hit Whit has been the best offensive player on this team in the last month. It’s true that his BABIP has skyrocketed but it isn’t at an unreasonable level for a player who consistently hits the ball as hard as Whit does and has the speed he features; you maybe shouldn’t expect it to always be that high but it shouldn’t be too much lower.
He’s got 3 home runs and four stolen bases over 23 games in the last month, neither of which is a massive number but they would be more than enough for a 20-20 pace over a full season. The last time someone did that for the Royals was Jeff Francoeur in 2011. The last time the Royals had a second baseman who could get 20 home runs or stolen bases was Desi Collapse
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