Most improved prospects heading into 2020 for KC Royals

The year 2019 saw the KC Royals organization bring home multiple league championships and many players stepped up their game to accomplish this.

While the parent team (the KC Royals) struggled, many of the minor league affiliates flourished last year. Five teams advanced to their league championship series’ and four of them brought home the trophy.

The Burlington Royals (Rookie) fell just short in clinching their league’s top prize but the Dominican Royals1 were able to claim the first title of the year. Then, within a three-day span, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Adv-A), Lexington Legends (Low-A) and Idaho Falls Chukars (Rookie) were able to mob the field in celebration.

Of course, the driving force behind these titles was young players hungry to climb the ladder to the majors. Many players turned in fantastic seasons as evidenced by the Royals announcements of the minor league players and pitchers of the year at each level.

Some of those players were coming off good years in 2018, some put up similar numbers as they did the year before, but others rose above the prior season and stepped up their game to another level. Keep in mind this list will not include recent draftees such as Brady Singer since 2019 was his first season, Bobby Witt, Jr. who was just drafted in 2019 and Jackson Kowar who pitched well but with only a nine-game sample the year before kept his stats relatively the same.

Other players who are not included are those who are still top prospects but 2019 did go as well as planned. Do not sleep on young studs like MJ Melendez, Nick Pratto, Yohanse Morel and Seuly Matias as they look to rebound in 2020.

There were prospects considered but just missed making the top three including P Daniel Tillo, OF Khalil Lee, and OF Brewer Hicklen. They had very good seasons but were edged out as our list is made up of players who made a large jump in output.

Drafted from Stanford in 2018, Kris Bubic was sent to Idaho Falls to close out the summer. Turning in a decent performance for a first-year professional, he really hit the gas in 2019.

Striking out 53 hitters in 38 innings is not a shabby way to begin for a career.  Kris Bubic had a large WHIP mainly due to issuing a free pass every other inning and his ERA hovered around 4.00. In 2019, though, he was dominant at two different levels.

In nine starts with the Lexington Legends, Bubic looked like a man among boys.  He held hitters to a .164 average and a WHIP of 0.88.  He also struck out 1.57 per innings while cutting the walks down to one per three frames.

A promotion to the Wilmington Blue Rocks did not slow him down at all.  In 17 starts, Bubic threw two complete games and one shutout and had a crisp 2.30 ERA.  He still struck out more batters than innings pitched and kept his WHIP around 1.00.

Not yet on the 40-man roster, Bubic received a call as a non-roster invitee to spring training. This will be a good experience and a measuring stick to see how he performs against hitters who are at the major league level or close.

Bubic did get in a B game against the Texas Rangers on the 23rd and after surrendering a leadoff home run on a 3-2 fastball, he settled down to strike out three in two innings.  Pretty much a lock to start the season in the minors it will be interesting to see if he forces his way into a call up this season although most predictions have him debuting in 2021.

An 11th-round pick begins mashing the ball for the Idaho Falls Chukars in just his second minor league season.

Michael Emodi is probably not a name that rolls off the top of fans tongues when considering a possible future catcher for the KC Royals.  Taken later in the draft just up the road from Creighton University and his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, he should probably be someone to start paying attention to.

A brief stint with the Arizona Royals and then 27 games in Burlington led to a combined .196 average with 44 strikeouts in only 107 at-bats in 2018.  Then, the Pioneer League was overwhelmed by hurricane Emodi.

A .331/.410/.663 slash is a great line to have regardless of the league.  The improvement from the prior year makes it even more special.  Emodi was named a midseason All-Star and Idaho Falls Player of the Year. He finished second in the league in slugging percentage, OPS and doubles.  He also finished in the top 5 in average, home runs, runs batted in and OBP.

Hopefully we will get to witness Emodi participate with a full-season team this year and see how his development continues.  We know the Royals could use catching depth, especially if Salvador Perez is easing out of his role as a catcher.

Who will step up and make a big jump for the KC Royals in 2020?  History shows that while some names will not be a surprise, there could also be a player like Emodi who explodes out of seemingly nowhere.  Watching the minor league players this season will be fun to watch.