Kansas City Royals Prospect Review: Top Pitchers of April

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

3. Luke Farrell

The first two seasons in professional baseball were a struggle for Luke Farrell. He had produced a 5.70 ERA and a 1.500 WHiP over 162.2 innings of work, leading to a 3-16 record. While he was able to strike out 158 batters, he just was not having much success.

However, thus far for Wilmington, Farrell has put together a solid season. In his four appearances, Farrell is finally finding success, posting a 3.38 ERA and a 1.179 WHiP. Most impressively, Farrell has struck out a Kansas City Royals system high 27 batters in 18.1 innings while only issuing five walks. It certainly appears as though Farrell has turned a corner this year.

As strong as his performance has been thus far, Luke Farrell could actually do better as the year progresses. Opponents have a .415 batting average on balls in play against him, despite a 16.3% line drive rate that is below average. Those few balls that are put being put into play are just finding holes. Fortunately, Farrell’s strikeout ability has mitigated the damage.

Once the luck on the batted ball normalizes, Farrell could see those impressive numbers only improve. He may even get his second chance at the AA level, giving him a chance to improve his deceptively high 6.35 ERA last year.

Next: The control artist