1 hitter, 1 pitcher from each Royals minor league team worth a late season watch

The Kansas City Royals once held a farm system that was once considered barren of talent. However, no it's loaded with talent throughout each level.

As the regular season winds down for the Royals, it’s not a bad time to take a peek at the young men who are grabbing the attention in the Royals farm ranks, and one day hopefully MLB headlines.

1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch in Triple-A Omaha

C - Carter Jensen

Omaha was missing some juice and excitement once Jac Caglianone graduated, but Carter Jensen has come in and immediately filled some of that void.

The young backstop - and No. 2 overall Royals prospect according to MLB Pipeline - started the year at Double-A, and figured to spend all of 2025 there. Jensen showed enough improvement at the plate to earn his spot in Omaha, and he hasn’t disappointed.

He’s hitting .255/.367/.559 with a .926 OPS that would rank him 8th in the international league if he had enough plate appearances. The Royals want to continue to see him work better counts, and his 15% walk rate at AAA compared to his 9.7% walk rate at AA is a step in the right direction.

RHP- Stephen Kolek

On the bump, a name you’ll want to keep tabs on is Steven Kolek. The Royals just traded for him as part of the Freddy Fermin trade, also bringing Ryan Bergert over from the Padres.

Kolek brings MLB experience to Omaha with 95 career strikeouts in 126.1 innings. With the injuries to Michael Lorenzen, Cole Ragans, and Kris Bubic, the Royals made it necessary to grab some insurance arms for the stretch run and into 2026.

He’s not a guy that will blow you away with velocity; his fastball only averages 94 mph, but he misses barrels, and his ground ball rate is in the 83rd percentile according to Baseball Savant.

His slider is his best offering with hitters only managing a .228 average against it. It’s the pitch he gets the most whiffs on at 24.3%.

1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch in Double-A Northwest Arkansas

OF - Carson Roccaforte

Roccaforte has been a familiar name to die-hard Royals fans as the organization's best defensive center field prospect.

But this season, the Royals' No. 20 overall prospect, found another level at the plate that’s raised his floor quite a bit.

Prior to this year, Roccaforte wasn’t known for his power. The highest SLG he had in Low-A ball in Columbia was .356 in 2023.

He’s figured something out in 2025 and has slugged .467 across High-A and Double-A, including belting his first homer in the upper minors last week..

RHP- A.J. Causey

He's not someone you'll find in the Royals' top 30 prospect list, but he's undoubtedly been one of their best pitchers at any level. The Royals' 5th round pick out of Tennessee in 2024, he was named Quad Cities pitcher of the month in June, and has dominated hitters in his first full season of pro ball.

He doesn't blow you away with velocity on the radar gun. He'll sit in the low 90s with his fastball, but he has a funky sidearm delivery that hitters have yet to solve.

Causey had an 8-2 record with a stingy 1.56 ERA in 40.1 innings at High-A Quad Cities. He was promoted to Double-A on July 8th and hasn't skipped a beat.

He pitched two shutout innings of work with four strikeouts in his Northwest Arkansas debut. He's only allowed a .192 average and a 1.20 ERA while striking out 15 batters in 15 innings.

The University of Tennessee has churned out some damn good pitchers in the last few years (the Royals also drafted Drew Beam, who was on the same college staff as Causey), and you can add Causey to the list.

He has the look of a high-leverage bullpen arm in the future, especially if there's more velocity to unlock as he matures. He's only 22-years-old and will look to continue to keep hitters at bay at Triple-A next year.

1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch at High-A Quad City

C - Blake Mitchell

You knew Blake was going to make this list at some point. The organization's number one prospect is adjusting to life after returning from a hamate bone injury.

The 21-year-old has the best blend of athleticism and power in the system and has the most promise to turn into an All-Star-level player.

Since returning from injury, he’s had 112 at-bats at High-A and is hitting .227/.393/.341 with a 119 wRC+.

It’s a frustrating year for a player who won the George Brett Hitter of the Year award for the Royals in 2024. Still, he’s worth tuning into watch because of his natural power and hitting instincts.

The Royals are still counting on Mitchell to be a premium player for them, and he still looks like an elite talent despite a lost season.

His 21.4% BB% shows his advanced eye at the plate, but his 32.1 K% at High-A is still something the Royals need to iron out.

Keep an eye on how he finishes the 2025 season. It could be a sign of how aggressively they will push him through the system in 2026.

The Royals will want to see him have more success at High-A before they test his skills at Double-A.

RHP- Felix Arronde

Arronde has been on the Royals' top prospect list for a couple of seasons now. He first caught the Royals' eyes when he arrived stateside in 2023 and pitched to a 1.85 in rookie ball. He’s never looked back since.

He had a 2.94 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 110.1 innings in Low-A in 2024, and that was enough to earn a promotion to High-A in 2025.

He’s been just as good in Quad Cities as he was in Columbia with a 2.50 ERA and a 44.3% ground ball rate. He’s using that high ground ball rate to his advantage, as his strikeout numbers have dipped from last year.

His fastball sits 93-94, but it’s his split-finger changeup that graded out as his best secondary offering. Sitting in the low 80s, he gets a lot of weak contact off that pitch.

He’s 22, so he’s still a couple of years away from Kansas City. He could be a candidate for the back end of the rotation in 2027. If the Royals want to fast-track him to the majors, his split-finger change could be a valuable weapon in the bullpen.

1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch at Low-A Columbia

RHP- Kendry Chourio

Chourio is the teenaged sensation who's blown up on the scene in the last month and has drawn comparisons to Yordano Ventura from some baseball analysts.

The 17-year-old Chourio has generated a ton of buzz around the system for how advanced he has looked in the short span we’ve seen him. He dominated Rookie ball in the Dominican Summer League (2.04 ERA) and the Arizona Complex League (2.45 ERA), but has found some turbulence in Low-A.

He looked great in his debut in Columbia, going four innings, giving up one run, and striking out four hitters. His next start was one to forget, going 3.2 innings and giving up six runs on six hits.

His ERA ballooned to 8.22, but his expected FIP is in good shape at 3.62. It’s hard to temper expectations for a teenager who has shown the potential Chourio has.

With a fastball sitting 93-97 at 17, one can only dream of the type of velocity he could add with strength and maturation. He adds in an upper-70s curveball and a mid-80s changeup.

Chourio will be a name to keep a close eye on in the Royals system. If 2025 is any indication, he could be a fast mover through the system on his way to KC in the near future.

C- Ramon Ramirez

Ramirez is one of my favorite players in the system because of how much he reminds me of Sal Perez. Perez was a defense-first catcher when he was coming up, but Ramirez brings an advanced approach at the plate.

The Royals’ depth at catcher is ridiculous, and Ramirez is currently the best hitter out of all of them. He played seven games in the Arizona Complex League before being promoted to Low-A, where he has looked the part.

He’s slashing .250/.367/.457 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs. His .207 ISO is for real, as we’ve seen the power materialize for the young backstop.

He has good lift in his swing and shows the ability to take pitches with six walks in his last 10 games.

The tools are there for him to turn into a player who could hit for 20 homers in the big leagues, but time will tell how his body matures and if he can improve on his defense behind the plate.