Kansas City Royals: 3 prospects to keep tabs on in 2020

The Kansas City Royals 2019 season is winding down but fans should be excited for next season. Here are three prospects to keep your eyes on.

The Kansas City Royals 2019 season has not gone the way they had hoped and are just a few games from officially being eliminated depsite their dysmal record already implying so. However, the future is bright for this franchise as they have done well re-stocking prospects.

A team desperately in need of future starting pitchers did just that in the 2018 MLB Draft, taking 5 collegiate pitchers in the first two rounds.  Only Danny Duffy, Jesse Hahn, and Jake Junis are under contract or team control next season. Mike Montgomery is under team control through 2021 and it remains to be seen if the Royals intend to keep him in the rotation long-term.

Hahn is still trying to make his way back from having surgery on his UCL and Duffy has recently dealt with some hamstring problems. Needless to say, having too pitchers in the farm system is never a bad thing. As for position players, Salvador Perez has missed the entire season with Tommy John Surgery in spring training but should be good to go at the start of next season.

Alex Gordon‘s $20 million mutual option is pretty steep so it will be interesting to monitor that situation. I’d like for the Royals to find a way to keep him around to help the young guys develop, but if he finds the money elsewhere, I wouldn’t be shocked if he left.

This team has a lot of holes all over the roster but, like I said, they have done well drafting prospects. Let’s take a look at the top 3 prospects that Royals fans should keep tabs on in 2020.

1. Seuly Matias, OF

Seuly Matias has dealt with a hand injury that has hurt his performance for most of 2019. The former international free agent played 94 games in Single-A Lexington last season, slashing 0.231/0.303/0.550 and displayed incredible power for a player his age. Matias will turn 21 early next month, but he smacked 31 home runs with 63 RBI’s in 2018.

As is common with most young players, he also struck out a lot; 131 K’s in 338 at-bats to be exact. This season, he’s been hampered by hand injuries all season long with the latest being a fractured hand back in mid-July. He was promoted to High-A Wilmington this season but has played just 57 games there and his power has taken a hit (no pun intended).

On the season, Matias is slashing just 0.148/0.259/0.307 with 4 home runs and 22 RBI’s. He’s currently ranked as the team’s 11th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline but he definitely has the opportunity to not only move up in the team’s rankings, but potentially crack the MLB’s Top 100 prospects.

He should focus on getting back healthy and ready for next season. If he can take some at-bats this season, great. However, there aren’t many games left for High-A Wilmington so it almost makes more sense for him to resume playing in the Arizona Fall League.

2. Daniel Lynch, LHP

Daniel Lynch was one of the “fab-five” as they are being called in that 2018 draft class of pitchers selected by the Royals in the first two rounds. The soutpaw out of Virginia was taken with the 34th overall pick a year ago and he’s moved up quickly through the minors. After making just 9 starts in Single-A Lexington last season after the draft, Lynch was promoted to High-A Wilmington to start this season.

He’s made 13 starts there this season and has struck out 62 batters in 67.1 innings while walking just 19 batters. Over his last ten starts, Lynch has a 1.78 ERA in 35.1 innings of work with 32 strikeouts and 11 walks. Currently ranked as the team’s 3rd best prospect, he’s also ranked as the 74th best prospect in baseball.

Scouts really like how developed his pitching arsenal already is:

“It’s hard not to get excited about how Lynch’s stuff ticked up as a pro, especially considering he nearly reached 140 innings between his junior season at Virginia and his time in the Minor Leagues. At times last summer, Lynch showed flashes of three plus pitches with plus command. He pitched at 94-95 mph consistently with his fastball, touching 97 mph, well up from his amateur velocity. He threw outstanding sliders and a very deceptive changeup while mixing in his average curve ball extremely well. His advanced feel for pitching and conviction of what he’s doing on the mound made it all play up and he came in on right-handed hitters better than most young lefties.” – MLB Pipeline

Lynch could be on the fast track to Kauffman Stadium but I would expect that he, at the very least, starts 2020 in Double-A NW Arkansas. However, if all goes to plan, he could be a September 1 callup or even earlier depending on the needs in the rotation especially if he’s ready.