Fun With Royals Prospects

Since the minor league baseball season is officially upon us now, how about one more turn around the Royals farm to see how many of the key prospects are standing before things get into gear?

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura (73) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

MiLB.com pointed out two of the Royals full-season affiliates as they picked out the minor leagues’ best starting rotations. They picked Northwest Arkansas in the Texas League as one:

Wilmington in the Carolina League was the other rotation:

Side note: Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery were a part of the Durham Bulls’ International League-best rotation.

Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus did a final wrap up of what he saw on the backfields in Arizona while scouting out prospects. He had high praise for the usual suspects. On Zimmer, he stated he had #2 starter stuff and raved about his curveball. He also heaped praise upon Adalberto Mondesi calling him a “monster prospect in the making”. It wasn’t all big names, though. He made a point to mention Lexington’s Michael Antonio as a prospect with some tools but more development to do and brought up Aroni Nina as a big arm in Low A. There are more prospects mentioned, as well.

Royals Review’s Jeff Zimmerman shot some video in Surprise of Bubba Starling, Mondesi, Elier Hernandez and Cameron Gallagher. I won’t repost all of Jeff’s videos, but here’s a teaser of Elier Hernandez:

Feb 21, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Christian Colon (72) poses for a picture during photo day at the Royals Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Lee Warren’s covering the Omaha Storm Chasers again for Yahoo Sports and one of his recent pieces shed some light on Christian Colon‘s approach after suffering a fluke injury to his eye last year. Colon rebounded, playing well in the Puerto Rican Winter League and showing no ill effects of the injury. The key quote gives us an idea of what the Royals may do with him, position-wise. He told Warren that he anticipates playing 60 percent shortstop in Triple A and 40 percent at second. With Colon, Johnny Giavotella, Irving Falu, and Anthony Seratelli, Omaha isn’t hurting for middle infielders.

If you’re looking for a particular prospect during full season play, we’ve got the full opening rosters lined up here and Jen Nevius will be providing nightly updates on how the Royals affiliates are performing.

Schedule