Royals Links: Prospects to Watch, Louis Coleman, Rotation, & More

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Baseball cannot get here soon enough. The warm weather from this past weekend tricked my mind into thinking it was closer to spring, but no, we’re still trapped in January. I’m ready to read about Player X being in The Best Shape Of His Life, and how Pitcher Y has a new pitch he’s been working on. But instead of hearing that, we get to hear about deflated footballs and the Knicks. Woof. Let’s get to some links.

– Jeffrey Flanagan of FOX Sports Kansas City wrote about a few prospects who haven’t gotten a ton of buzz, but could still provide some value to the Royals in a few years. Glenn Sparkman, Jonathan Dziedzic, Mark Peterson, Ryan O’Hearn, and Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado won’t find their names on top 100 lists in a couple weeks, though they’ve impressed the organization enough to merit a mention here.

– At Royals Authority, Craig Brown gives a great breakdown on Louis Coleman‘s disappointing 2014 season. It’s tough to pinpoint an exact cause of his struggles, but the sidearming righty seemed to have issues with his arm slot, and his fastball got absolutely destroyed by pretty much everyone. Coleman can probably bounce back, and considering the depth of bullpen talent, he’ll need to do so to make sure he keeps his spot on the roster.

– Pine Tar Press’ David Lesky says the Royals rotation will have a tough time duplicating their success from last season. It certainly won’t be impossible, but the team will need Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy to take steps forward, Jason Vargas and Jeremy Guthrie to keep outperforming their peripherals, and Edinson Volquez to not revert back to the bad pitcher he was prior to 2014.