3 struggling KC Royals prospects who are getting tough to defend

The Kansas City Royals just completed a disastrous 10-game road trip. After losing two of three games in Cleveland, they dropped three straight at Yankee Stadium, then another three in a row in Detroit before finishing their journey by beating the Tigers Sunday. The 2-8 trip fueled a barrage of media analysis dominated by grim accounts of poor individual performances.

But the big league club isn't home to the only poorly-performing players in KC's system. Plenty of minor leaguers are struggling and becoming harder to defend.

Here are three.

KC Royals prospect Chandler Champlain is having a tough time at Omaha

Champlain, considered by MLB Pipeline as the 20th-best prospect in the organization, had his best start of the young season late last week. Working his fourth game of the year for Triple-A Omaha, he didn't give Norfolk a single run.

Unfortunately, his scoreless outing lasted only an inning before a long rain delay washed out his night; the Storm Chasers won 4-2, but we'll never know if Champlain, had he returned after the inclement weather moved on, would have redeemed himself after his previous three poor starts.

After experiencing some early Cactus League troubles, Champlain began this season at Omaha, where he was manager Mike Jirschele's choice to start the Storm Chasers' second game. But after retiring the first four Iowa Cubs he faced, Champlain allowed six straight to reach base — three on hits, three on walks — and three runs in the second inning.

The Cubs turned truly inhospitable in the fourth. Without making an out, they raked Champlain for four runs, four singles, a three-run homer, and a walk before Jirschele removed him with the Chasers trailing 7-2. They came back to win despite their starter's awful outing.

Champlain gave Louisville four runs in six innings a week later and another four in 3.1 frames to St. Paul six days after that. And his concerning start comes on the heels of the 1-4, 6.46 ERA record he posted over his final five Omaha starts last season. He ended that campaign with a 5.07 ERA split between Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas, and gave up eight runs three times, seven once, five twice, and four four times.

Champlain, obtained from the Yankees in the 2023 trade deadline deal that sent Andrew Benintendi to New York, will carry a one-loss, 10.13 ERA record into his next start.

Chandler Champlain isn't the only KC Royals pitching prospect struggling at Omaha

A year ago, Cruz Noriega, a member of the organization since 2018 when he pitched for two KC rookie-level clubs, pitched 32 times for Omaha. Over nine starts and 23 relief appearances, he put together a respectable 7-4 record, but his 6.01 ERA was too high for a starter or reliever. And although he posted a nice 3.93 ERA for High-A Quad Cities two seasons ago, his career 4.85 ERA attracts the wrong kind of attention.

Noriega isn't doing his career any favors so far this year. In six appearances for Omaha — five out of Jirschele's bullpen and one start — he has an ugly 19.89 ERA. The eight runs he gave up in his only start, a one-inning April 19 debacle against Norfolk, account for much of that number, but he also surrendered two runs without recording an out against Louisville, and three in just 1.2 frames against St. Paul.

That the right-hander gives up too many runs is nothing new. It's also a flaw he needs to fix before the Royals grow weary of it.

How much longer can Nick Pratto last with the Royals?

It may seem odd to call Pratto a prospect, but until he proves he can hit big league pitching, that's what he is. He's also a mystery the organization can't seem to solve — not since 2021, when he exploded at the plate with 36 homers, 98 RBI, and a .265/.385/.602 line across 64 games at Omaha and 61 at Northwest Arkansas, has he shown consistent signs that he's the budding star those shiny stats suggested he was.

Later numbers prove how bad things have gone for Pratto after his remarkable 2021 campaign. Promoted to the majors for the first time the following July, he managed seven homers in 49 games, but his .184 average earned him a late-season demotion to the minors. He returned to Kansas City in each of the last two seasons, but altogether has only 14 homers, a .216 average, and a 79 wRC+ to show for the 145 big games he's played.

And his minor league record since 2021? The 37 homers he's hit exceed by just one those 36 he clubbed in 2022 (in fairness, he spent most of the 2023 campaign in Kansas City), and he hit .228 in 2022, .180 in 2023, and .242 last year.

This season hasn't been any better. Through April 23, Pratto is slashing .191/.309/.213. He hasn't homered yet, has only five RBI, and has been hitting deep in the lineup.

What Pratto's KC future holds may not be much. His bat has been quiet for too long, and there doesn't seem to be much, if any, room for him in Kansas City.