Royals Weekly Rookie Ball Recap

It wasn’t a great week for rookie ball teams affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.

Burlington went 2-4 this past week. Despite the losing record over the week, the Royals still sit atop the East Division of the Appalachian League at 27-13 (good for a four game lead). They finish up their series with Pulaski today.

There is still no hitter hitting above .300, but uber-prospect Bubba Starling is the closest at .298. Over the last week, he went 8-for-25 (.320) with three homeruns and five RBIs. The strikeouts are still an issue (eight in 25 at-bats). He now has seven homeruns total.

Speaking of homeruns, Fred Ford hit another one this week to tie teammate Patrick Leonard atop the leaderboard in the Appalachian League with 11. Leonard now has 32 RBIs, which ranks him fifth. Ford has watched his average climb to .281, as he went 6-for-18 (.333) this past week. Kenny Diekroeger also hit another homerun, his eighth, to keep him fourth in the league.

Mark Threlkeld had a big game on August 2nd in the Royals 15-5 win. He went 4-for-6 with five RBIs.

Colin Rodgers now qualifies for the top pitching categories with his 34.1 innings pitched. He is second in the league with a 1.83 ERA in eight starts. The third round pick of the Royals this past June has allowed just 21 hits and one homerun so far in his professional debut.

Idaho Falls went 3-4 this past week. In the second half, the Chukars are 4-4, good for a tie for second place in the South Division of the Pioneer League. They finished the first half in third place at 17-21. They begin a three-game series tonight against Ogden.

Ethan Chapman has raised his average to .347, but dropped to ninth in the league in batting average. He continues to be the Chukars leading hitter. This past week, he went 10-for-27 (.370) with six runs scored.

Sam Selman lowered his ERA to 1.49, but struggled with his control in his last start. He allowed an unearned run on two hits over four innings with seven strikeouts. The problem was, he walked five. Fellow 2012 draft pick Alec Mills made two solid starts last week. Over 11 innings, he allowed four runs on six hits and no walks while striking out 13. Unfortunately, he picked up a loss on Sunday.

Two back end relievers have been pitching well: Joe Lopez and Cory Hall. They have combined for five saves. In two relief outings last week, Lopez allowed just three hits over four scoreless innings. He struck out five. Hall allowed just one hit over 2.2 innings while striking out four (three appearances).