Baseball America Recognizes Royals Prospects

Every season, Baseball America runs through a ranking of their top 20 prospects in each particular league in the minors.

Last year, with what turned out to be the top-ranked farm system in baseball by the writers of Baseball America, the Royals cleaned up, landing multiple prospects on many of their respective leagues’ lists.

This year, it’s a bit different, but that’s to be expected when a team ends the season with eight of its top 20 prospects spending significant time in the majors.*

*Namely, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Johnny Giavotella, Salvador Perez, Louis Coleman, Danny Duffy, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow.

Nonetheless, BA has covered the Pioneer League, Midwest League and Carolina League so far, and placed a Royals prospect on each list:

Pioneer League: 2B/3B Daniel Mateo

Wally Fish had a great piece about Mateo earlier in the year. Mateo was a signee out of the Dominican Republic in 2008 and posted a .348/.389/.478/.867 line in 54 games for the Idaho Falls Chukars.  Expect him to see time at higher levels next year.

Midwest League: 3B Cheslor Cuthbert

Cuthbert should be near the top of the Royals overall rankings when next year’s Prospect Handbook comes out. Not yet 19 years old, Cuthbert  had a pretty good season  in a league where the average age is around 21 years old.  He hit .267/.345/.397/.742 in 342 plate appearances against much more experienced competition.

Carolina League: RHP Jake Odorizzi

By the time we get a full look at the potential of the players involved in the Zack Greinke trade from last December, Odorizzi may be the best acquisition from the deal. The Brewers #1 overall prospect at the time of the trade, Odorizzi rolled through Wilmington, striking out nearly 12 batters per nine innings with a 2.87 ERA in 78.1 innings pitched.  He earned a promotion to Double A around midseason and, while he didn’t dominate at the same rate, he held his own and showed glimpses of what he could do.  Odorizzi will be 22 when next season begins and should have a similar split between Double A and Triple A. He’s arguably the Royals top pitching prospect right now.

More league rankings will be announced in the coming weeks.

You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.