Kansas City Royals: Prospect to Watch, Seuly Matias

Though the Kansas City Royals do not have the most refined farm system, there are some promising young players scattered throughout the list. One of those is outfielder Seuly Matias.

Seuly Matias is listed as the number three prospect in the Kansas City Royals organization, according to MLB Pipeline. The 19 year old was the only Lexington Legends player named to the Futures game. He was signed by the Royals in 2015 from the Dominican Republic.

He signed for $2,250,000 in 2015. The Kansas City Royals overspent in 2015 in the international market, causing them the be in penalty years until this year.

His Statistics

In his 69 games with the Lexington Legends this year, Matias is slashing .219/.302/.571. Of his 54 hits in the 2018 season, 25 of them have been long balls. That’s impressive.

His 6’3″ 200 frame combined with stellar bat speed gives him big play potential. He is only in Single A right now, which puts his ETA for the majors around 2021 according to MLB Pipeline.

The downside is that he strikes out a lot. In his first two professional seasons, he struck out in 34% of his at bats. But, that isn’t something that is uncommon for a power hitter caliber player.

MLB Pipeline compared him to Yoenis Cespedes and Andre Dawson. He’s speedy, but his biggest strength is his arm. It grades out at 70. He started in center field, but he made the transition to right field in 2017.

Everything else is pretty mediocre, so far. He’s young, which is good. He likely will not make an appearance in the MLB until 2021, as MLB Pipeline predicted. Until then, he has a ways to go.

Next: Justin Grimm waived

In order to work his way through the farm system, he will need to put a lot of work into his plate approach. Plus, he needs to be more aggressive on the base path. He has a bright future, and he is likely to eventually be a part of the future of the Kansas City Royals.