Archive for October, 2010

Baseball America’s rankings of the top 20 prospects for 2010 in the Texas League are out today, and not surprisingly, three members of the Texas League Champion (and Royals Double A affiliate) Northwest Arkansas Naturals are in the top three, with an additional two Naturals ranked and three more gaining a sort of honorable mention. Mike Moustakas earned the top rank in the list after leading the minor leagues in homers over two levels (despite missing the first two weeks of the season, even).  Eric Hosmer came in right behind him at #2 after ripping apart Carolina League pitchers and [...]

Today, I’ll take a look at the second of the Royals three big trades in 2010, that of Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers for catcher Luke May and minor league pitcher Elisaul Pimentel. Podsednik had performed well above my expectations as a Royal, but I also knew he wasn’t long for the organization, either.  With the Royals, the spectre of keeping a veteran around is always there, and as the days counted down toward the deadline, I grew increasingly concerned that Podsednik would both remain a Royal for the rest of the year and that the Royals would attempt to [...]

The Royals were among the more active teams at the trading deadline this season. With a bevy of prospects working their way up, the organization took an approach to move older players to make room for younger to fill in the gaps, both to evaluate them for future roles, and both to get solid returns in the form of even more young players. At the deadline, the Royals traded Alberto Callaspo, Scott Podsednik, Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel and received Tim Collins, Luke May, Sean O’Sullivan, Will Smith, Eisaul Pimentel, Gregor Blanco and Jesse Chavez in return. It remains to [...]

Team USA is chugging along in the Pan Am Games Qualifying tournament right now, starting off 4-0 after an 8-3 win over the Dominican Republic. Royals prospect Eric Hosmer went 3-4 with a run and RBI and Mike Moustakas added a 2-5 day to help the professional team continue their winning streak.  Both Moustakas and Hosmer have started all four games so far, with Moustakas batting third and Hosmer fifth in the lineup. The recognition and opportunity is so far working out for the two corner infield prospects, as Moustakas has a .823 OPS thus far and Hosmer is carrying [...]

As Baseball America continues to run through each level and league in Minor League Baseball, names of Royals prospects keep popping up. Recently, they covered the Carolina League, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the High A affiiliate of the Kansas City Royals.  Of BA’s top 20 prospects in the league, the Royals placed five Blue Rocks on  the list, all within the top 10. They are: 1B Eric Hosmer (2), LHP John Lamb (3), catcher Wil Myers (4), LHP Chris Dwyer (7), and SS Christian Colon (9).

For yet another season, the Royals have finished outside the select company of teams who play for the World Series Championship. But come on, we knew that would be the case going into 2010. I think I’m among the more optimistic (at times) Royals fans out there, and I never gave us much of a chance to compete this year. There was an outside chance we might finish third in the division, but not much more than that. In our season preview on Kings of Kauffman back in April, Wally predicted a 68-94 finish, I predicted a 75-87 finish and [...]

On Monday afternoon, Team USA beat Colombia 13-6 behind five Mike Montgomery innings. Montgomery got the win a day after fellow Double A prospect Everett Teaford dominated Aruba.  But Montgomery wasn’t the only star in Monday’s win.  Eric Hosmer went 2-5 and drove in a run while scoring two himself.  Mike Moustakas also went 2-5, drove in three and scored once. Team USA improved to 3-0 and will play the Dominican Republic tonight. Royals prospects have been a strong source of talent for the Pan Am roster, as both Teaford and Montgomery have had strong five-inning starts in winning efforts.  [...]

On Sunday, Aruba’s Christian Diaz led off the Pan Am Games matchup against Team USA and Royals lefty Everett Teaford and singled. And that was the high point of the day for Aruba. Teaford threw 62 pitches over five innings, striking out 10 batters and walking none.  As a unit, Team USA surrendered just that one hit and no walks over seven total innings.  Oh, and they also scored 14 runs, ending the game early due to a mercy rule. Royals prospects Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer had fine performances as well, as Moustakas homered in the fifth inning and [...]

I don’t know what it is about the Tampa Rays, but they just go through stretches of offensive impotency.  Last year, Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against Tampa.  Earlier this season, Dallas Braden tossed another perfect game against them.  Then again in 2010, Edwin Jackson no-hit them despite walking ten. And on Friday, Bruce Chen threw a shutout, giving up only two hits and two walks while striking out seven.  He’s been a surprise contributor in the starting rotation this year after taking over Gil Meche‘s spot when Meche went on the disabled list in May.

Team USA defeated Puerto Rico in qualifying play tonight 7-4 behind strong hitting by Brett Jackson and Todd Frazier. Royals LHP prospect Tim Collins came on in relief of starter Todd Redmond and induced a popout by fellow Omaha Royal Irving Falu to end a Puerto Rico rally in the sixth inning.  He finished with two strong innings of relief, striking out one and giving up two hits. Mike Moustakas started at third base and batted third, but went 0-4.  Eric Hosmer started at first base, batted fifth and scored a run but also went hitless, though he did walk [...]

After the latest Elias projections ranked David DeJesus as a Type B free agent, the decision about whether or not to exercise the $6 million option on DeJesus’s contract became academic. DeJesus will return in 2011 to patrol the outfield after having a career year in 2010 where he’d hit .318/.384/.443/.827 in almost 400 plate appearances.   He’d been shut down in July after tearing a ligament in his right thumb while going for a fly ball and colliding with the outfield wall.

‘Cause I’m sure not.  As the MLB season winds down, I start to look towards next year already, and it’s just one more step the strong crew of minor leaguers get to take towards reaching the major leagues. Baseball America is running down their lists of top 20 prospects within individual MiLB leagues.  Not surprisingly, the Royals are being well represented.