The best KC Royals prospect at each position going into 2025

It's been a while since the Kansas City Royals have had an above-average farm system according to industry-wide rankings. As of right now, the organization sits in the 25th spot in both MLB Pipeline and Bleacher Report's farm system rankings — a spot that leaves much to be desired.

Most of the club's top prospects have MLB ETAs past the upcoming season, which can be viewed as both a good and a bad thing. The good is that recent drafts have brought in a ton of high-end talent, but the bad is that not much of these talented stars-in-the-making are very close to the big leagues.

According to MLB Pipeline's top-30 Royals prospects list, just two of the players inside the top 10 have an ETA at the game's highest level in the coming season. Aram Leighton of Just Baseball also has two of the team's top prospects debuting in the 2025 campaign, but they're two different ones than MLB Pipeline came up with. This goes to show how much prospect depth can vary depending on who you ask.

With that in mind, let's take a look around the Royals' system and determine the best player at each position as we prepare for 2025. A lot of these names are going to be ones fans will want to familiarize themselves with as soon as possible.

Catcher: Blake Mitchell

• MLB Pipeline Top-30 ranking: Royals No. 2
• Baseball America Top-10 ranking: Royals No. 2
• Just Baseball Top-15 ranking: Royals No. 2

The industry is in complete agreement that Blake Mitchell — the Royals' first-round pick from the 2023 MLB Draft — is the second-best prospect in the organization's farm system. The 20-year-old just wrapped up his first full season as a professional and it went extremely well, especially when you consider the fact that he's extremely young and unexperienced.

Mitchell appeared in 111 games between Low-A and High-A, registering 16 doubles while hitting 18 home runs and driving in 51. He also went 26-for-33 in stolen base attempts, which is an outrageous number for a catcher. The Texan's .793 OPS is also nothing to scoff at.

Possessing a unique blend of power, speed and defensive prowess, Mitchell is an obvious long-term replacement for Salvador Pérez once he either retires or is forced into a first base/designated hitter role. The Royals already began the shifting of his position during this past season, so Mitchell will be the answer behind the plate in the blink of an eye.

The best KC Royals infield prospects going into 2025

First base: Jac Caglianone

• MLB Pipeline ranking: No. 1
• Baseball America ranking: No. 1
• Just Baseball ranking: No. 1

Sticking with first rounders who are highly touted, Caglianone was the Royals' first-round selection in this past year's MLB Draft. The 6-foot-5 Floridian carries an ungodly amount of raw power in his bat but also a strong ability to make contact with the ball. Players of his size usually bring one or the other to the table, not both.

Caglianone is fresh off of a 66-game showing in his senior year where he hit 35 home runs and drove in 72 with a .419 batting average and 1.419 OPS. Those are video game numbers, but they're also not fabricated in any way. The guy can straight up hit.

He also hit .236 with a .749 OPS and five home runs across 21 Arizona Fall League games and is reportedly going to get some runway as a two-way player moving forward, too. He's an immensely talented player whose long-term future is probably going to be as a 40-homer power hitter, which would work out perfectly for the Royals.

Second base: Javier Vaz

• MLB Pipeline ranking: No. 13
• Baseball America ranking: N/R
• Just Baseball ranking: No. 8

Vaz's prospect stock is where things start to get divisive amongst the industry's top prospect analysts, but it's not a surprise to see a 15th-round pick fly under-the-radar — especially one that stands at 5-foot-6 and barely tops the 150-pound mark.

Vaz, 24, is right on the cusp of a big-league debut and brings a ton of exciting tools to the field. He has some power that's still very much a work in progress, but he's a solid slap hitter who can steal bases with the best of them. This past season, he hit 8 home runs with 51 RBI, 30 steals in 33 attempts, and had a .279/.373/.400 line with a .773 OPS.

The speedy utility man can bounce around all over the diamond, but his long-term home is likely as a second baseman. His so-so throwing arm and above-average range would result in him being a great option there in the big leagues, perhaps even as soon as the 2025 season.

Shortstop: Yandel Ricardo

• MLB Pipeline: No. 8
• Baseball America: N/R
• Just Baseball: Honorable Mention

There's not much in the way of true shortstop prospects in the Royals system, but being an up-and-coming shortstop in this organization is ... less than ideal with that Bobby Witt Jr. guy tearing it up in the big leagues.

Riacrdo, 18, is very raw, but he just finished his first stint in the DOSL with the Royals, recording 15 extra-base hits with 23 RBI, 14 stolen bases in 19 attempts, and a .696 OPS. He's a switch-hitter who doesn't strike out much, but he's got a ton of time to live up to the significant $2.4 million contract he earned as an international free agent last year.

Third base: Austin Charles

• MLB Pipeline: No. 14
• Baseball America: N/R
• Just Baseball: Honorable Mention

Another late-round pick who's starting to find his footing in pro ball, Charles just wrapped up a full season in Low-A where he made his name one worth remembering. The 20-year-old played in 117 games, hitting 10 home runs with 64 RBI, 36 steals in 43 attempts, and a smooth .739 OPS to round it all out.

Charles, a 20th-round pick by the Royals, is a left-side infielder through and through, getting a ton of looks at both shortstop and third base this past season, but Witt Jr.'s presence at shortstop makes a player like Charles more of a fit at third right off the bat.

The best KC Royals outfield prospects going into 2025

Outfield: Tyler Gentry

• MLB Pipeline: No. 15
• Baseball America: N/R
• Just Baseball: N/R

The only player from this list to have made his MLB debut, Gentry went 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts across his three-game cameo in the big leagues this past season. That's far from what he showed he could do throughout his minor league career, though.

Gentry, 25, is yet another Royals prospect who possesses a blend of power in his bat and speed in his legs. He's a smart baserunner who hits a ton of balls in the gap and also has plenty of raw power to send them over the fence at impressive rates.

Defensively, Gentry has one of the strongest throwing arms in the system and the makings of an everyday right fielder, should he continue to play the position like he has in the minors. In 2023, he made just one error across nearly 1,000 innings at the spot, which says a lot about his acumen out there.

Outfield: Gavin Cross

• MLB Pipeline: No. 6
• Baseball America: No. 6
• Just Baseball: No. 11

Thank goodness, we're back to talking about first-round draft picks. Cross, Kansas City's first-round selection in the 2022 draft, has a skillset that is very similar to the vast majority of his fellow prospects in the system. It seems the Royals may have a type.

The 2024 season saw Cross play all 101 of his games in Double-A, and he hit 15 home runs with 59 RBI and a .770 OPS. He also went 30-for-32 in stolen base attempts, and had a much-needed bounce-back campaign after a highly disappointing showing in 2023.

For Cross, he's going to need to continue this upward trajectory if he's going to have any hopes of being a productive big leaguer. The 2024 season was a great step forward, and he'll be able to go from future corner outfield bench bat to starter if he can keep it up.

Outfield: Asbel Gonzalez

• MLB Pipeline: No. 20
• Baseball America: N/R
• Just Baseball: No. 12

Originally signed out of Venezuela prior to the 2023 campaign, Gonzalez made the shocking leap from Rookie-league to Double-A to round out this past season, which says a lot about how the Royals view him and his future.

Gonzalez, still just 18, had a promising 41-game showing in Rookie-league prior to that promotion, registering 13 extra-base hits while driving in 20 runs, scoring 39 of his own, and going 22-for-26 in stolen base attempts. He's still young and developing physically, but power does not seem like it's going to be a big part of his game as he ages. Still, he's a long and lanky player who should continue to show off strong contact skills and an uncanny ability to make his way on base.

The best KC Royals pitching prospects going into 2025

Right-handed starting pitcher: Ben Kudrna

• MLB Pipeline: No. 3
• Baseball America: No. 4
• Just Baseball: No. 5

Armed with a three-pitch mix that includes a pair of breaking pitches that are as strong as anyone else's in the Royals' system, Kudrna is nearing his first look at the big league level. This past season, the right-hander made it up to Double-A despite the fact that his numbers weren't exactly knock-your-socks-off material.

All told, the 21-year-old made 22 starts (and one relief appearance), going 6-8 with a 4.21 ERA. He punched out 119 batters and walked 53 through 115.1 innings of work. The walks and his command in general are an early concern, but he's still young and has plenty of time get the control under, well, control.

Left-handed starting pitcher: Noah Cameron

• MLB Pipeline: No. 12
• Baseball America: No. 8
• Just Baseball: No. 6

Most prospect ranking lists will tell you that Kudrna is the prized pitching prospect in this system, but true ball knowers are well aware of the fact that Cameron really holds that distinction. The southpaw made 25 starts between Double-A and Triple-A this past season while striking out over 10 batters per nine innings and walking 2.5.

Both of those numbers outpaced Kudrna and earned Cameron a spot on the Royals' 40-man roster as they looked to protect him from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. The 2021 seventh-round pick is the closest Royals pitching prospect to the big leagues, and there's no reason why he shouldn't make his debut in the coming season.

Relief pitcher: Eric Cerantola

• MLB Pipeline: No. 29
• Baseball America: N/R
• Just Baseball: Honorable Mention

There aren't many true relief-pitching prospects in the Royals' system, but Cerantola stands out above the field. The right-hander began the 2024 campaign as a swingman but shifted to a short-stint reliever down the stretch and his numbers immediately began to improve.

In 13 relief appearances out of the Royals' Triple-A affiliate's bullpen, Cerantola posted a 3.77 ERA with 20 strikeouts and eight walks in 14.1 innings of work. The sample size is not very big, but it's enough to get prospect evaluators interested. Moving forward, his high-strikeout stuff is likely going to play up out of the 'pen, and the Royals' late-season moving of him to a relief role may indicate how they view his future playing out.