The three KC Royals prospects that need promoted ASAP

Although only one minor league season is under the KC Royals’ prospect belt, he is ready for the spotlight.

The first round, 18th overall pick in 2018, Brady Singer is ready to test the waters in Major League Baseball.  He will turn 24 this August and pitched three years in the Southeastern Conference with the Florida Gators.

His last year in college saw him post a 12-3 record with a 2.55 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00.  Pretty solid numbers in an ultra competitive conference and against non-wooden bats.  Facing tough hitters is something he has already done for the majority of his last few years.

The Royals rested him after the June draft and he did not play in the professionals until 2019.  He started at Advance-A ball and quickly made the jump to Double-A.  Overall, Singer was 12-5 with a 2.85 ERA, 1.187 WHIP and struck out 138 batters in 148 1/3 innings pitched.

He quickly racked up awards and distinctions being named a MiLB.com Organizational All-Star, Futures Game Selection, Mid-Season All-Star with the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Pitcher of the Week for Northwest Arkansas in late July.

A non-roster invitee to big league camp this spring, Singer started off very well and despite struggling a bit in his last appearance, he still held his own.  He punched out six batters in five and two-thirds frames and gave up seven hits.  His control was a bit off walking four batters but that is an anomaly and should correct itself with more time.

With multiple doubleheaders, he would be perfect to slide into starting on those days if not more often.  It would be wise to have him pitch as many games at Kauffman as possible to drive up ticket sales and build fan support.

It is reported that Singer was already a candidate to make the team as the fifth starter, we will see if he still gets that much deserved opportunity once baseball restarts.

There are no exciting arms in the KC Royals bullpen to look forward to watching this season; this guy could change that.

It is no secret I have a love affair with the young fireballer that goes by the name Tyler Zuber.  After a couple of decent years in the minors, he absolutely lit up professional hitters in 2019.

The beginning of his dominant reliever role started during his last year at Arkansas State where he tossed 52 1/3 innings in 25 games producing a 6-1 record, 2.06 ERA, 0.860 WHIP and struck out 80 batters.  That pushed his stock up to the point the Royals took him in the sixth round of the 2017 draft.

In his first minors stop, he punched out 38 hitters in 25 frames and converted all six of his save opportunities with Burlington.  In 2018, Zuber spent half of the year with Lexington and again was 100% successful in closing out leads going 9-for-9.  Forty-eight more strikeouts were notched in just 29 innings.

2019 was a coming out party for those who were not aware of this prospect.  Between Advanced-A and Double-A, Zuber posted a 1.79 ERA, converted 21 of 26 saves, had a 0.90 WHIP and punched out 68 batters in 55 1/3 innings.

If you were not sure if he is worthy of an addition to the team, hopefully this changed your mind. There is no reason he should stay in the minors and a back-end of the bullpen role should be granted to him sooner than later.

The outfield seems like a “let’s see what sticks” philosophy currently, with the only regular at his position possibly in his last year.

The projected KC Royals outfield configuration has Alex Gordon in left, Whit Merrifield in center, and Hunter Dozier in right.  Two of those guys were not in those roles last year.

Since the departure of Lorenzo Cain, center field has been a revolving door of players and right field has been held down by a combination of Merrifield and Jorge Soler.  It would be nice to see a strategy that seems more together than drawing names out of a hat.

Insert Kyle Isbel.  In 2018 at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas he turned heads by clubbing 14 home runs, batting .357, and producing an OPS of 1.084.  It was impressive enough for Kansas City to nab him in the third round of that year’s draft.

Isbel continued his strong season with a .326/.389/.504 line in 64 games split between Rookie League Idaho Falls and Class-A Lexington.  He did struggle with Wilmington in Advanced-A for 2019 but rebounded to finish strong in the competitive Arizona Fall League.  There he hit .315 and reached base at a .429 clip.  Driving in 16 runs in only 21 games was impressive as well.

A left-handed hitter who can hit for average and pop, cover the center field position well and has speed as shown by his 24 swipes in 2018, Isbel is ready for a chance at the big league level.  He can spell Gordon or Merrifield on doubleheader days, give relief starts during the dog days of summer, and would be a good late inning option for Matheny.

It is important that the KC Royals use the extra roster spots with an eye towards the future.  Filling them with veterans who will have little positive impact this year or in the future is a waste of resources.