Kansas City Royals: Jimmy Govern was impressive for Triple-A

Jimmy Govern was a 30th round pick in this year’s MLB Draft for the Kansas City Royals but managed to see a few games in Triple-A Omaha.

What Kansas City Royals 2019 30th round draft pick, Jimmy Govern did this year is pretty incredible. The former Eastern Illinois product slashed an impressive 0.326/0.404/0.609 with 16 doubles, 16 home runs, and 52 RBI’s as a senior. After being drafted, Govern played 46 games for the Arizona Royals rookie league and slashed 0.365/0.492/0.628 with 17 doubles, 6 home runs, and 33 RBI’s.

The reason he likely was promoted all the way to Triple-A? Govern took 34 walks compared to 20 strikeouts and his 1.121 OPS led the Arizona League, even ahead of San Diego Padres 6th overall pick CJ Abrams. It’s extremely rare that a player will completely bypass all the lower levels of the minor league system and be thrown right into Triple-A but that’s exactly what happened.

In his first two games with Triple-A Omaha, Govern went 0-for-5 with 2 strikeouts. However, he followed that going 7-for-16 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s over the next four games. It’s going to be really interesting to see where Govern gets placed to start next season. Six games is an extremely small sample size and he’s likely due to struggle at some point.

It wouldn’t surprise me for the Royals to be cautious and start him at Double-A NW Arkansas. That way, if and when he does struggle, it won’t completely ruin his confidence. However, the soon-to-be 23-year old should be free to move as quickly as he wants given how well he’s done in such a short amount of time.

The interesting part is if he gets called up at some point next season. The Royals infield is already extremely crowded. Govern has been primarily playing third base but has seen some time at second base as well. While Hunter Dozier and Cheslor Cuthbert have split time at the position, Dozier is more likely to see permanent time in right field.

Cuthbert has been less than stellar in his career and I’ve already stated that the Royals should non-tender him this offseason. That should clear up time at third base when Govern gets the call, but I would expect him to see the big leagues for the first time as a September 1 call-up next season.