No. 2 KC Royals prospect, 5 others get big late-season promotions

Columbia, the Single-A affiliate of the KC Royals, must win out to qualify for the Carolina League playoffs. Difficult enough already, that daunting task, which requires the Fireflies to win all of their remaining seven games, became more complicated Monday morning with the departure of one of their best players.

Blake Mitchell is moving up to High-A Quad Cities.

The move is the first major promotion for Mitchell, the Kansas City franchise's second-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, since the Royals made him their first pick in last year's amateur draft. He became the organization's top prospect almost immediately, but lost that lofty ranking last month to 2024 first-round selection Jac Caglianone, who he'll join on the River Bandits' roster.

Mitchell's move up is surprising only in that it comes so late in the season. Although he's hitting only .238, he's getting on base a lot and making it count — his OBP is an outstanding .376 and he's stolen 25 bases — and he's hammered 18 home runs and has 50 RBI in 106 games.

Mitchell started his pro career with 13 games in the Arizona Complex League soon after signing last summer, then began this season with Columbia.

He isn't the only player joining a Quad Cities club engaged in a playoff race of its own. The River Bandits lead Peoria by three games for the Midwest League Western Division's second-half playoff slot. Quad Cities is off today before hosting Beloit Tuesday evening.

Five other KC Royals prospects earn promotions

Mitchell has company as he moves up the Kansas City organization's ladder; per Raising Royals, five other prospects are changing teams.

Tommy Molsky, a right-handed pitcher the Royals chose in the 12th round of this year's draft, is headed to Quad Cities with Mitchell. Any playing time he sees for the River Bandits will be his first official affiliated ball action. He played collegiately at Oklahoma State and Penn State.

Pitchers A.J. Block and Nicholas Regalado are joining Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Block, a left-handed reliever originally drafted by Detroit and signed as a free agent by the Royals a year later, was 4-1 with a 4.59 ERA in 30 games at Quad Cities.

The left-handed Regalado has played in the Arizona Complex League and at Columbia since joining the organization in 2022. He was 5-4, 3.74 in 27 games for the Fireflies this year, and 1-1, 2.78 in 20 appearances for them last season.

Catcher Canyon Brown and pitcher Yunior Marte have been added to Columbia's roster for the final week of the regular season.

The Royals picked Brown in the ninth round of this summer's draft. As is the case with Molsky, this will be Brown's first official time with an affiliated team.

Marte, a right-hander the organization signed in 2022, was 0-3 with a 5.49 ERA in 11 Dominican Summer League appearances that year, went 0-1, 4.14 in 12 games (six starts) in the ACL last season, and was 0-2, 9.92 in seven ACL relief appearances this season.

More KC Royals content from Kings of Kauffman