KC Royals: Weekly Minor League Breakdown

More than a month into the KC Royals minor league season, I take a look at how some of the teams and players have been performing down on the farm.

It was an interesting week in the KC Royals minor league system. Put that along with me getting to use Fangraphs new detailed minor league stats and you all should be getting a fine breakdown.

AAA – Omaha Storm Chasers (20-19)

The Omaha Storm Chasers got their week kicked off against the New York Mets AAA affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s. They won a game in which the fired on all cylinders, winning 8-3. Paulo Orlando collected three hits and bashed his first homer of the year. Reliever Onelki Garcia continued his scoreless streak, finishing the game out.

Omaha continued their hot streak, winning their third and fourth straight games on Saturday and Sunday. These were led by two good performances from starters Jake Junis and Luke Farrell, including Junis striking out nine. Put that with two good performances from Raul Mondesi, including a homer, and Omaha swept the four game series against the 51s.

After an off day, the Storm Chasers would back home. The received their second straight day off on Tuesday, with a rainout against the Tacoma Rainers. This led to a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Those two off days proved to ruin Omaha’s mojo. The fell in the first game of the doubleheader, by a score of 7-2. This included Yender Caramo struggling in his start and Onelki Garcia giving up his first run of the year.

Omaha got right back on track though in the second game, winning 4-2. In a shortened seven inning game, KC Royals pitching prospect Erik Skoglund tossed a complete game. He generated ten groundballs in this game to improve on his elite 47.3 GB%. This game also included Raul Mondesi hitting a home run and a double.

Thursday was a busy day for the Storm Chasers too. Scheduled to play the third and fourth games in two days, Omaha got things kicked off again in the late afternoon, playing the first game. The news in this game was KC Royals top pitching prospect Josh Staumont and his performance. It was wasn’t really considered good or bad. He struck out eight, but walked seven in six innings. He now owns the title of throwing the most balls in AAA, with 321.

The Storm Chasers won the second game, by a score of 5-0. Bubba Starling was impressive in this game, going 3 for 3. He finished off a hot week, in which he raised his batting average by more than 70 points. Frank Schwindel, playing in his first AAA game, went 1 for 3. Christian Binford tossed six scoreless and Bobby Parnell closed it out.

AA – Northwest Arkansas Naturals (21-17)

Starting their week in the middle of a series with the Tulsa Drillers, the Naturals dropped the second game of a four game series. Alfredo Escalera and Frank Schwindel collected three hit each in this one, but a rough start by Emilio Ogando proved to be costly. The Naturals fell 9-4.

They ended up losing the series on Saturday, falling by the same score. Humberto Arteaga and Logan Moon each collected three hits, but the bullpen struggled, giving up six runs in 3.1 innings.

Tulsa finished off a four game sweep on Sunday, winning 10-2. The bullpen was rocked again, giving up eleven hits and eight runs in three innings, wasting a good Matt Tenuta start.

The Naturals then went the road to play the Arkansas Travelers for the second straight week. NW Arkansas ended a four game skid in the series opener, prevailing 6-2. The Naturals had four players with multi-hit games. Miguel Almonte tossed 3.2 innings of one run ball. Filling the strike zone again, Almonte embarked on his Texas League seventh best SwStr%.

NW Arkansas then took the next two games in the series.

Returning the favor, going for a four game sweep in Thursday, the Naturals fell short. Prospect Corey Ray got roughed up a bit in his start. But reliever Tim Hill did toss 2.1 scoreless innings. He’s struggled so far this year, allowing the second highest LD% in the Texas League among pitchers with at least ten innings.

A+ – Wilmington Blue Rocks – (19-21)

Wilmington got things started off this week in a close win over the Frederick Keys. Chris DeVito, now in Wilmington, had two hits. Wilmington only used two pitchers in this one, Christian Castillo and Yunior Marte, as they only allowed one run. Look for Marte to be a bullpen option for the KC Royals in the far future.

The second game of the series was postponed due to rain.

The rainout created a doubleheader on Sunday. Two wins in one day got Wilmington the sweep. The bullpen didn’t allow a run Sunday, with a Richard Lovelady and Jake Kalish having scoreless appearances.

Back on the road playing the Potomac Nationals, Wilmington worked out a close one on Monday, winning 2-0. Scott Blewett continued to impress, tossing seven scoreless. He now has a 3.45 ERA on the year. But that has come with some luck. He has a 5.11 FIP and 4.66 xFIP.

The hot streak ended for Wilmington with a bang on Tuesday. They lost 10-0. Nationals prospect Luis Reyes held the Blue Rocks in check, striking out seven in 6.1 innings.

The Blue Rocks got right back on track the next day though. Winning 5-2, this game saw Chris DeVito hit his first High-A home run. Nicky Lopez, D.J. Burt, Chase Vallot, and Cody Jones all collected  multiple hits. A.J. Puckett pitched into the seventh inning, giving up two runs and grabbing the win.

The Blue Rocks game on Thursday was postponed due to lightning.

A – Lexington Legends (17-23)

The Lexington Legends got things kicked off this week in the last game of a series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Marten Gasparini hitting his second homer of the year, Kort Peterson collecting two hits, and Walker Sheller getting the two inning save led the Legends to the victory.

The next series for the Legends was a four game series against the Augusta GreenJackets. A Gasparini double that brought home Meibrys Viloria got the victory.

After splitting the next two games, the worst Lexington could do on Tuesday was split the series. But that wasn’t the case, as Lexington came out with the 6-4 win. Walker Sheller was great in this one again, throwing 2.1 scoreles innings, striking out three, walking one. Four players collected multiple hits.

The final game of the week for the KC Royals Low-A affiliate was against the Rome Braves. Lexington blew a 6-0 lead in this one, with Rome walking it off in the ninth against Legends reliever Matthew Wynne.

Kort Peterson also got three more hits in this one. After a very impressive pro ball debut in 2016, he has some how improved in his first full season of pro ball. He has a wRC+ of 142 this year so far.

Next: Don't Give Up on Bubba