Kansas City Royals: Minor league players of the year, Part II

This is the second part of the minor league pitchers and players of the year for the Kansas City Royals focusing now on A to AAA players.

South Atlantic League (A):

The Lexington Legends were another Kansas City Royals farm club to claim a championship in 2019. While the Legends’ Jeison Guzman‘s (SS) slash of .253/.296/.373 was not overly impressive, the Sally League was tough on hitters all around in 2019 as batters combined to hit for a .239 average. Guzman signed as an international free agent and hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The $1.5 million dollar contract certainly puts a lot a pressure on the 20-year-old and he has not yet had a dynamite season. However, he did end the season batting .300 and driving 2 home runs with 7 RBI’s in his last 10 games and the Royals hope that success will carry over into 2020.

Oklahoma State player Jon Heasley (RHP) played a full season in Lexington after first being drafted in ’18, then spending the summer in Idaho Falls. For ’19 he pitched to an 8-5 record with 20 starts in 25 total appearances and striking out 120 batters in 112.2 innings which was a nice step forward in ’19.  Heasley also has a tremendous mustache that will surely intimidate hitters for years to come.

Carolina League (Adv-A):

Brewer Hicklen (LF) was a 7th round selection out of Alabama-Birmingham in 2017. After a strong 2018 in Lexington, he played a handful of games for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Returning to the Blue Rocks for all of ’19, Hicklen led the team in home runs (14), hits (110), plate appearances (494), triples (7), stolen bases (39), walks (55), OPS (.790), and runs (70). Even better news is the .943 OPS Hicklen posted in August plus his inclusion in the Arizona Fall League.

If the first several names in this series have not caught your attention, the next player should. Part of the “The Draft” in 2018, Kris Bubic (LHP) out of Stanford did nothing but dominate in 2019. His first nine starts at Lexington were amazing with a 0.88 WHIP and he held hitters to a .164 average. The step up to Advanced-A ball did not slow him down at all.

Starting 17 times, Bubic caused 110 batters in 101.2 innings to whiff and only surrendered 76 hits. Between the two levels, he only allowed 6 dingers in 149 plus frames. It appears he could be toeing the rubber for the big league club sooner than later and is listed as the #6 prospect for the Royals.

Texas League (AA):

Although he has been with the Royals for four years, #4 prospect Khalil Lee (CF) is still just 21 years old having been drafted in the third round out of high school in 2016. After struggling a bit in a 29 game stint with the Naturals in ’18, Lee really blossomed this season producing a .264/.363/.372 slash. His speed exploded as shown by the 53 stolen bags (besting his career-high by 33) and only being caught 12 times.

Even though not a large part of his game, it would be nice to see a bit more pop out of Lee but a start in Omaha seems almost guaranteed next season.

The second pitcher from “The Draft” on this list, Brady Singer did not disappoint in 2019. The 6’5″ right-hander was given the summer off after Kansas City selected him in the first round in ’18 to prevent arm fatigue. He performed very well with the Legends to begin this year and earned a promotion to Northwest Arkansas mid-season.

His numbers against AA batters were not as dominate as the lower level but for a first-year pro, they were very good. He posted a 7-3 record in 16 starts, struck out 85 over 90 plus frames while only walking 26. His last 10 games should give Royals fans reasons to be very excited as his ERA was only 2.18 with a WHIP of 1.00.

To show what a quality person he is, Singer had a Twitter post that documents when he gave his parents a letter on Christmas Day 2018.  It reads that with his signing bonus he was paying off the debt they had accumulated while supporting him throughout his amateur baseball playing days. It is an extremely touching moment and speaks to the heart this young man has. The #2 prospect will hopefully be a mainstay in the Kansas City clubhouse for years to come.