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Three Royals prospects hit Baseball America's weekly "Prospect Hot Sheet"

For those of you unfamiliar with Baseball America, their website has a weekly feeture called the "Prospect Hot Sheet" which is about prospects who are doing particularly well.  There's no formula, but it's about prospects who have done well this year and who are doing particularly well recently.  Finally some Royals prospects have hit the most recent Hot Sheet .

Star-divide

No. 2 CARLOS ROSA, RHP

 

Team: Double-A Northwest Arkansas (Texas)

Age: 23

Why He's Here: 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 16 K

The Scoop: A 2004 Tommy John surgery survivor, Rosa has a 93-95 mph fastball and a sharp curveball, and Texas League hitters were helpless against them this week. Last year, Rosa had the stuff but not the results; he had a 3.60 ERA with a pedestrian 85 strikeouts in 120 innings in four games with high Class A Wilmington and 21 more with Northwest Arkansas. This year, the results are catching up to his talent. Through six games, Rosa has a 1.32 ERA and a 32-5 K-BB ratio. It's early, of course, but it's the essence of player development when a pitcher like Rosa with excellent raw pitch quality makes the necessary improvements that lead to better on-field performance.

After ranking 13 "hot" players, then they give some honorable mentions to some other prospects who are performing well in the "In the Team Photo" section

. . . High Class A Wilmington RHP Blake Wood (Royals) just missed a couple of previous Hot Sheets, but went 1-0, 2.03 in two starts last week, throwing 13 1/3 innings, allowing just three runs on six hits while striking out 14 and walking only two

There is also a section for older prospects called "Blast from the Past"

Mike Aviles, 2b, Triple-A Omaha (Royals): It only seems like Aviles has been a Triple-A standout forever. In fact, the 2003 Division II player of the year (at Concordia (N.Y.) College) enters his third season as an Omaha regular, and this time may be the charm. Aviles, 27, is in the midst of a 13-game hitting streak, during which he's hit .393/.414/.768 (22-for-56) with six doubles, three triples and three homers. And if it weren't for Pablo Sandoval (see: Helium, below), Aviles' 22 extra-base hits would lead the minors.

No Royals were mentioned in the "Helium Watch" section which is for prospects whose stock is rapidly rising.  If Edward Cegarra of low-A Burlington doesn't make that list soon, it will be a crime.  As adschofield pointed out a couple of weeks ago, he's tearing up the Midwest league.  Here is the 19-year-old RHP's stat line so far:

1-2, 2.12 ERA, 34 IP, 27 H, 1 BB, 37 K

37 strikeouts and 1 walk in 34 innings pitched?  Are you kidding me?  His stock is certainly rising in my eyes.

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The pitching depth in the farm system has grown to be impressive.

Now I think it’s time Dayton consider trading some of that depth for hitters. Certainly you should be able to get some excellent hitting prospects given the scarcity of teams willing to trade minor league pitching talent. You could argue that Buckner for Callaspo was one of those deals where Callaspo is overall a better player than Buckner but Buckner just happens to be a pitcher.

Think of it though – the rotation really seems to have 4 solid long term spots filled (barring injuries of course). You have Davies pitching well in AAA and Rosa and Pimentel on the 40 man roster already. There is Cortes, Wood, Cegarra, et al. who appear to be on the right track.

Trade one of them! Pick up a stud SS or OF and then draft Smoak in June and suddenly the R’s have some real hitting prospects besides Moustakas.

Side note: Why do they have Callaspo, German, and Aviles all at a major league ready level? One of these guys needs to flipped for something soon thought German needs to get some quality ABs before his value will be up again.

by jsolo on May 6, 2008 4:58 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Pitching Is Great

But that is not our immediate need. I know you can never have enough pitching, but you have to have some kind of offense, too. When (not if) Pena fails to hit by June, don’t we have to give Aviles a shot? If he can hit anything like his AAA numbers, we’d have to find a place for him. And yes, as jsolo says, flipping some pitching depth for some hitters must be on GMDM’s agenda.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on May 6, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Everything I've read about Aviles

has concurred that he would be a hack at SS on the major-league level. Don’t let Aviles’s team awards from last year fool you—the Royals view him as a marginal prospect at best, and the two logical places to stick him (3b and 2b) currently have entrenched incumbents for the future (Gordon and Callaspo), both of whom are almost certainly better hitters than Aviles. If Aviles truly had a future with the team at either position, I doubt we would’ve traded for Callaspo in the first place.

When was the last time the Royals had such an exciting set of pitching prospects as Cortes, Rosa, Pimentel, and Wood (maybe Duffy as well)? It sure feels like a while.

by DarthYoshi on May 6, 2008 12:46 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Nah, but I do remember the 99/00 trio of future Royals pitching stars was

Blake Stein, Chad Durbin and Dan Reichert. Going back and looking at their minor league numbers… they always sucked. Oh yeah, Brian Meadows and Mac Suzuki were supposed to be good too. But neither of them were really Royals products.

winning records follow good bullpens

by slayor on May 6, 2008 6:48 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

There wasn't much prospect hype (or reason for hype) about those guys

They were just the best pitching prospects of a bad lot. There’s genuine reason to be excited about Cortes, Rosa, and Pimentel. And some reason to be optimistic about guys like Wood, Duffy and Cegarra.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on May 6, 2008 6:51 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Could He Play

1B or LF? Hell, DH with Butters at 1B? He should at least get one chance to fail.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on May 6, 2008 5:26 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

looks like you beat them to the punch on Rosa...

This is so weird… seeing royal prospects emerging….

by royalsreview on May 6, 2008 12:14 PM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Moustakas on fire...

Just went deep again…3 HR in last 4 games. Batting about .500 in that time span with no strikeouts.

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on May 6, 2008 7:32 PM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Cegarra

Hell yes he should be on the helium watch. 37/1 K/BB is just unreal, he is supposed to have pretty decent stuff for a 19yo as well!

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on May 6, 2008 7:33 PM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Do you know much about him?

I’ve been scouring the internet and all I can find is:

- Int’l free agent signed out of Venezuela
- Low 90’s fastball, developing slider and change
- Wasn’t very effective last year, mostly because the only pitch he could count on was his fastball
- J.J. Picollo was on Sickels XM radio show. I didn’t hear it, but I read a brief write up of it. It says that Picollo said that he’s throwing with great control (obviously) and that he’s using his breaking ball and offspeed pitch to get strikeouts.

That’s about it. Clearly he’s throwing strikes. And the slider and/or change must have improved significantly.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on May 7, 2008 2:46 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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