KC Royals Minor League News: Prospect check-in

Like the KC Royals, the River Bandits haven’t been able to score much.

High-A Quad Cities is 11-16 and eight games out of first place in the Midwest League West. The cause for many of their recent losses has been an ice-cold offense.

After starting the year well, Tyler Gentry has regressed. The last 15 days have seen him post just a .616 OPS. He hasn’t hit a home run since April 14 and he last walked April 24. Still, he has a 1.092 OPS and will hopefully break out of his slump soon.

The rest of the lineup has been a mixed bag. Luca Tresh continues to dominate in the on-base department with a .385 OBP over the last 15 days. He’s raised his season line to .286/.378/.506 and owns a 17-game on-base streak.

On the other hand, Peyton Wilson and Kale Emshoff haven’t fared so well. Wilson is hitting just .167 and is 1-for-21 with nine strikeouts since April 30. Emshoff is striking out 35% of the time and has 14 games with multiple strikeouts.

A young KC Royals pitching prospect is attracting attention at Quad Cities.

Although some of his stats have popped off the charts this year, Christian Chamberlain is probably unfamiliar to many Kansas City fans. The Royals picked him up in the fourth round of the 2020 draft after he went 2-1 with a spectacular 0.82 ERA for Oregon State during that year’s shortened collegiate season.

Although Chamberlain’s 0-1, 4.73 record may look pedestrian, he’s hot in May. He threw two no-hit, no-run innings against Cedar Rapids a week ago and struck out the side in both frames. Three days later, he faced Cedar Rapids again and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks.

Chamberlain also has 29 strikeouts in only 13.1 inning this season. He definitely bears watching.