Royals Prospects in Review: Hunter Dozier, Frank Schwindel, Humberto Arteaga

Now that the MLB Draft is over, we should start to see teams moving prospects around a bit more. Rosters at every level will have to be altered to make room for the new guys joining the farm system. Some Royals prospects will be promoted, if the organization feels a player has sufficiently proven himself at his current level. One prospect in particular who may be making a strong case for a promotion in the very near future is Hunter Dozier.

After a slow start, Dozier has been on a tear recently, hitting .388/.444/.612 in the last two weeks, with 8 doubles and a home run. He’s now sporting an .826 OPS in a pitcher-friendly league and stadium. In fact, Frawley Stadium appears to be holding Dozier down even more than other players. At home, his OPS is .711, but on the road, it’s at .943. Luckily for Dozier, if he is indeed called up to Double-A, his new digs will be much more kind to his offensive game.

It’s no guarantee, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dozier in a Naturals uniform very soon. His production over the last two weeks is a continuation over what he did during the month of May, so it seems he’s getting a hang of High-A pitching. It may be time to give him another challenge.

Who’s Hot: Frank Schwindel (Lexington, C)

Since May 26th, Schwindel has been on fire, hitting .327/.356/.818 in 59 plate appearances. Yes, that .818 is his slugging percentage. He’s hit 7 home runs in 13 games, and he also has 6 doubles in that timeframe, presumably because Schwindel just got tired of jogging all the way around the bases. He was recently named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team, and it appears his selection was merited.

Who’s Not: Humberto Arteaga (Lexington, SS)

All those good things that I talked about with Schwindel do not apply to Arteaga. In his last 51 plate appearances, he’s hit .149/.180/.149. You can add all three of those numbers together and it will still be a lower number than Schwindel’s slugging percentage. Arteaga has scored 4 runs in the last two weeks, so that’s something. I guess.

Here are a few notable stat lines from some other Royals prospects in the last couple weeks.

Cody Reed (Lexington, LHP): 3 starts, 13 IP, 8.31 ERA, .901 OPS allowed

Raul Mondesi (Wilmington, SS): 50 PA, .234/.265/.234, 14 K, 2 BB

Sean Manaea (Wilmington, LHP): 3 starts, 13.2 IP, 13 R (7 ER), 8 BB, 15 K, 4.61 ERA

Glenn Sparkman (Wilmington, RHP): 3 starts, 15 IP, 3 BB, 10 K, 0.00 ERA

Jorge Bonifacio (Northwest Arkansas, OF): 54 PA, .220/.278/.280, 13 K, 4 BB

Jason Adam (Northwest Arkansas, RHP): 2 starts, 8.1 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 7.56 ERA

Andy Ferguson (Northwest Arkansas, RHP): 3 starts, 17 IP, 6 BB, 17 K, 2.12 ERA

Matt Fields (Omaha, 1B): 42 PA, .263/.310/.684, 4 2B, 4 HR

*Clayton Mortensen (Omaha, RHP): 16 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 16 K, 0.00 ERA

*Mortensen is 29, so he’s not really a prospect, but he deserves some recognition for his first 3 games of the season since coming off the disabled list.