Kansas City Royals: 3 top minor league players of the month

3. Brewer Hicklen, OF

Would it have been anyone else? Brewer Hicklen was a seventh-round pick in the 2017 draft out of UAB and has spent all of 2019 at High-A Wilmington. On the season, he’s slashed 0.265/0.367/0.431 with 12 doubles, 7 triples, 14 home runs, and 51 RBI’s.

He’s struck out a ton which is common with young sluggers and Hicklen will be participating in the Arizona Fall League. He’ll need to cut down on the strikeouts if he wants to continue moving up in the ranks. However, it’s hard to ignore the month of August he had.

In 24 games, Hicklen slashed 0.297/0.347/0.604 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 8 home runs and 16 RBI’s. He had a three-game stretch last week in which he hit 5 home runs. Hicklen has primarily batted second or third in the batting order and could be a nice long-term fit there.

He’ll more than likely get a well-deserved promotion to Double-A NW Arkansas to start the 2020 season but could see Triple-A Omaha as well. The Royals outfield could use a bat like his in the future as Jorge Soler/Hunter Dozier appear to be long-term fits. However, they have two major question marks in both Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips.