Royals' massive IFA signing just got a ringing early endorsement on MLB Pipeline

The Kansas City Royals' farm system hasn't been in the greatest place for some time now and this year's opening Top 100 prospect list from MLB Pipeline only further fueled that narrative.

Only the Royals catching duo of Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell cracked this year's list, but while the league-wide rankings looked bleak for KC, there were some promising slivers of hope to be had with Pipeline's first Royals Top 30 list - and hopefully the rest of the baseball world will catch on soon enough.

One of those slivers was the newest of newcomers to this Top 30 list, the freshly signed cream of the crop of their international free agent pool, Angeibel Gomez.

Not only did Gomez make the list, he firmly cracked the Top 10 in his first shot, with Pipeline's scouts placing him seventh overall.

Could Angeibel Gomez be the next promising name in the Royals farm system?

This isn't the first time that Gomez has held prestigious prospect status, as he was one the biggest gets in this year's international free agent class.

However, cracking any organization's Top 10 is no small feat, and certainly if you're at the tender age of 17.

According to Pipeline's scouting report on Gomez, there's no reason to believe that the hype around him recently has been overblown.

"He’s a five-tool player with a ton to dream on if everything clicks," they wrote.

And judging by how his tools grade in their eyes, that's no exaggeration. He's not even voting age and his weakest of the five tools is his hit tool at an average-looking 50 grade. His power grades out at a 55, while his run, arm and field sit at 70, 60 and 60 respectively.

And according to them, there's no reason to believe that those bat-oriented tools won't arrive soon enough.

"Gomez already has physicality in his 6-foot-2 frame but still has plenty of room to grow, allowing scouts to dream on the power that will come with more strength and maturity," they wrote. "With a smooth swing from the right side, Gomez makes hard contact, understands the strike zone well and drives the ball to the gaps with authority."

For many international players seemingly destined to get their first start in pro-ball in the Dominican Summer League, a "raw" hitting profile seems common. So, the fact he already has the rest of the game all but down to a science is a very promising sign.

With other youthful names like Kendry Chourio and David Shields proving in 2025 that age is sometimes nothing but a number in this game - and thus skyrocketing into the top five on the latest list - perhaps Gomez is the next example of this.

Only time will truly tell, but the next dawn of a great Royals farm system might arriving sooner rather than later, and Gomez might eventually be the name to lead that charge.