KC Royals: Week 2 Minor League Breakdown

AA – Northwest Arkansas Naturals (5-8)

It hasn’t been the best start for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Another rough week started with a 14 inning marathon against the San Antonio Missions. After starter Matt Tenuta got roughed up, the bullpen went on to pitch 7.2 scoreless innings. But in the 14th, reliever Luis Rico gave up the walkoff hit.

The Naturals returned Friday trying to get their first win of the series. On the hill was prospect Miguel Almonte. He pitched terrifically in 4 innings, only allowing 3 baserunners. The offense couldn’t scrap up anything though. The Missions were even 2 outs away from a combined no-hitter, but outfielder Ruben Sosa singled to break up the bid. Some late baserunners weren’t enough though, as the Naturals fell 2-0.

The Naturals gave it another try Saturday with Christian Binford standing on the mound. He pitched terrifically, handing the ball to the bullpen, where they pitched a combined 3 hitless innings with 8 strikeouts to 1 walk. Terrance Gore also collected his first stolen base.

The Naturals next series would be on the road against Corpus Christi. On the mound, making his second AA start would be Corey Ray. Him and swingman Pedro Fernandez would struggle in long outings, while reliever Tim Hill got hit around hard. This added up to 10 runs allowed by the pitching staff.

The good news about this series though is the offense. The lineup put out 22 runs in a 3 game span.

Overview: It hasn’t looked good for the Naturals at all. So far, the pitching staff has given up the most runs in the Texas League. The offense isn’t much better either, ranking second-to-last in runs scored and last in OPS.

After Samir Duenez, Frank Schwindel, and Mauricio Ramos, the lineup isn’t threatening at all.

Player of the Week – Samir Duenez: Duenez has led the way so far on offense. He ranks first on the team in BA, OBP, and SLG. On Thursday night he’ll look to homer in 3 consecutive games.

A+ – Wilmington Blue Rocks (7-7)

The Wilmington Blue Rocks started off the week right, taking 3 of 4 from the Potomac Nationals.

After losing the first games of the series in which one of the top pitching prospects for the KC Royals, Scott Blewett, delivered a rough 4.1 innings, the Blue Rocks took the next two, winning games with Emilio Ogando, A.J. Puckett, and Christian Castillo on the hill.

Playing the Salem Red Sox on Monday, Wilmington had a tough game all around. After looking fantastic in his first couple of starts, Foster Griffin was tagged for 8 runs in 1.1 innings.

Salem ended up finishing off the sweep in the next two games.

The highlight of the week came Wednesday night though. Struggling in a tough hitting league to start the year, catcher Chase Vallot, one of the KC Royals top hitting prospects, hit his first home of the year. The DH Roman Collins also went deep for the second time this year.

On Thursday, Wilmington took the first game of the series against the Winston-Salem Dash, barely etching out a 1-0 win. The lone run in this game came on a Elier Hernandez RBI single. What was eye-catching though was the start by the 2015 draftee, A.J. Puckett. Puckett hurled 7 scoreless innings, striking out 8 in what might have been the best start of his professional career.

Overview:  The bullpen has looked amazing. Jared Ruxer, Richard Lovelady, Jake Kalish, and Jacob Bodner have all pitched well.

Player of the Week – A.J. Puckett: His first start was less desirable, allowing 10 baserunners in 5 stressful innings. But what earns him this though is his performance on Thursday night. Eight scoreless in a 1-0 win.

A – Lexington Legends (5-10)

After a rough 2-5 start to the new season for the KC Royals Single-A team, the Lexington lineup let out a lot of frustration, putting 14 on the board against the West Virgina Power. Outfielder Khalil Lee led the way with two doubles, second baseman Angelo Castellano homered, and left fielder Kort Peterson also added three hits.

Lexington couldn’t keep it going though, losing the next three games in ugly fashion.

The losses Friday and Saturday were due to an underperformance by the bullpen. On Sunday, the Power returned the favor to Lexington, scoring 13 runs on 18 hits. The runs were charged to three pitchers. Nolan Watson, Jose Veras, and Julio Pinto.

Lexington would remain at home for a series with the Greenville Drive. Winning the first game of the series, lefty prospect Garrett Davila turned in a quality start and another 2015 draftee, Jace Vines, contributed with 3 scoreless innings.

The offense would remain stagnant in this series though. But, Khalil Lee did knock his second homer of the year.

On Thursday night, the Legends would head on the road to face Tim Tebow and the Columbia Fireflies. Tebow was not in the lineup.

The Legends ended pitching a shutout, getting 7 innings from Andre Davis. Walker Sheller notched the save.

Overview: Some players in the lineup are starting to heat up. Six of the nine players in the lineup have an OPS above .750.

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Player of the Week – Andre Davis: The KC Royals 8th round pick in 2015, Davis spent two years in Burlington to get his pro career jump started. He is now pitching full season and the results have been good. Davis has given up 4 runs in 12 innings, posting a K-BB ratio of 13-3.