Omaha bound: Jarrod Dyson, Gaby Hernandez, Humber, Clark, and Rosario

In the last seven days, five players including Jarrod Dyson, Gaby Hernandez, Philip Humber, Cody Clark, and Fransicso Rosario, have been optioned or reassigned from the Royals major league camp to the minor league side.  All five are Omaha bound to start the 2010 season, and all five of these moves happened between last Friday and Tuesday so I’m a little behind* but I wanted to write up my thoughts, especially on Jarrod Dyson.

*Seems to be my perpetual state lately …

Last Friday OF-Jarrod Dyson (25) was reassigned to Triple-A Omaha.  He’s still on the outside looking in at the top-30 prospects in the organization, but the 50th round pick in the 2006 draft is starting to make a little noise.  Thanks to David Lough’s injury, Dyson was sent to the Arizona Fall League.  Jarrod made the most of his opportunity, hitting 0.310/.364/.408 in 71 AFL at bats.  He followed that up with a respectable showing in spring training with a line of 0.263/.318/.316 in 19 AB.  Dyson has never put up eye popping numbers, but he has performed consistently and has steadily advanced up the rungs of the minor league ladder.  His assignment to Omaha for 2010 will mark his fifth level of minor league baseball in five seasons.

As a member of the O-Royals we can expect a number of things.  First, he’s going to steal his share of bases.  In 234 minor league games he has 107 SB to his credit and has been caught just 24 times.  That gives him a success rate of 81.7% in his career which makes him a legitimate asset on the basepaths.  Baseball America ranked him as the fastest baserunner in the system.  Second, he’s not going to hit many home runs.  If history is any indicator, it would be safe to say he’s not going to hit any home runs.  In 917 PA in the minors he is still looking for his first professional HR.  Add in his 71 AFL and 19 spring training at bats and his professional HR total is still zero.  Third, he’s going to wind up with slash stats in the vicinity of his career 0.270/.343/.325 line.  He may dip since he will be facing Triple-A pitching for the first time, but based on his track record, AFL, and spring training performance, I think he is very capable of holding his own.  From all accounts, he is very solid defensively and his minor league Total Zone numbers support those assessments.

He remains a long shot to ever become a major league regular, but he does have a chance to carve out a career as a 4th or 5th outfielder.  Considering the injury history and track record of the Royals projected starting outfield, we will likely see Dyson make his major league debut at some point this summer.  When he does reach the majors, I anticipate most folks will be pleasantly surprised by his performance.

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On Monday the team optioned RHP-Gaby Hernandez (23) to Triple-A Omaha.  I hope for his sake that he can finally settle in at Omaha, work on honing his craft, and not have to worry about having to find another organization for awhile.  I wrote about Hernandez at length two weeks ago and I stand by my assessment but since he is a member of the Royals organization I’m pulling for him to put it all together.

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The following three players were all reassigned to Omaha on Tuesday.

RHP-Philip Humber (27) has been thoroughly unimpressive in his brief major league action spread over the last four seasons.  In 29.2 IP he has a 6.07 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, 5.8 SO/9, and 1.12 SO/BB.  In his 9.0 major league innings with the Twins he was dreadful giving up 17 hits and nine walks, but on the bright side he did strike out nine.  His prospect standing vanished a while ago and these days he’s primarily Triple-A pitching depth.  He now has almost 400 IP in AAA and his 4.69 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 7.1 SO/9, and 2.27 SO/BB at that level has done little to prove he’s more than “just another guy.”  Looking at things optimistically I can at least see the possibility of Gaby Hernandez becoming a successful major league pitcher.  When it comes to Philip Humber, I think that ship sailed on the back of multiple arm injuries in 2005 and 2006.  He will, however, always be remembered for two things.  One, he was a 1st round pick (3rd overall) in 2004 and two, he was one of the four players the Twins got back in the Johan Santana trade.

RHP-Francisco Rosario (29) has 49.1 major league innings to his credit.  23 of them came with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2006 and the other 26.1 came with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007.  In those innings he has compiled a 6.02 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 8.4 SO/9, and 1.59 SO/BB.  In 2008 he pitched only 2.2 innings in High A and didn’t pitch at all in 2009.  Shoulder injuries appear to have ruined his career as they have so many others before him.

C-Cody Clark (28) has been in the Royals system since 2007 with the bulk of his playing time the last two seasons coming with the Double-A Naturals.  To date his AAA experience has been limited to just 22 at bats, so despite backing up Edwin Bellorin, 2010 will be his first shot at extended playing time in Omaha.  In seven minor league seasons he has hit 0.262/.342/.397 in 404 games played and doesn’t appear to have much of a chance to reach the majors this season, if ever.

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(Wally Fish is the lead blogger for Kings of Kauffman and FanSided’s MLB Director.  Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)