Royals Top 60 Prospects: #37-31

by nwroyal on Nov 6, 2009 12:21 PM EST in Kansas City Royals Minor Leagues

Does anyone else feel like the MLB Playoffs are starting to feel like the NBA playoffs? I don't mind all the games--but all the days off are painful. The offseason has officially now begun and with fresh rumors that there might be prospects involved in the Teahen trade. Let's just say if there are prospects involved from the Royals, they better be ones I've already written about (both for the sake of making a good trade and of not messing up my list). We finish up the bottom half of the Royals Top 60 Prospects. Next week I'll do #30-26 of the Royals Top 30.

Here's a review of the previous players listed:

60--Dylan Lindsay

59-Blaine Hardy

58-Barry Bowden

57-Rowdy Hardy

56-Matt Mitchell

55-Ryan Wood

54-Eduardo Paulino

53-Nick Van Stratten

52-Deivy Batista

51-Sean McCauley

50-Fernando Cruz

49-Eric Basurto

48-Pedro Nivar

47-Cole White

46-Jarrod Dyson

45-Jerico Blanco

44-Shin Jin-ho

43-Manny Pina

42-Ben Theriot

41-Dusty Odenback

40-Jason Taylor

39-Geulin Beltre

38b-Ed Cegarra

38a-Jose Bonilla

37--Malcolm Culver--3B--Age-19

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	19	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook	KCR	234	203	4	3	3	24	8	4	26	41	.222	.315	.315	.630
2009	19	Burlington	APPY	Rook	KCR	214	184	4	3	3	19	8	4	25	37	.217	.316	.321	.637
2009	19	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	KCR	20	19	0	0	0	5	0	0	1	4	.263	.300	.263	.563
2 Seasons						264	229	4	3	3	24	9	4	29	54	.218	.313	.301	.614

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/6/2009.

We drafted Culver in the 8th Round of the 2008 draft out of HS in California. Culver is projected to hit for power and already shows a pretty good eye at the plate. He has the tools to be a pretty good defender at 3rd base. If he does well in the spring, he could go to Low-A Burlington, Iowa in 2010.

36--Alex Llanos--CF--Age:19

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	--	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook	KCR	274	252	11	3	3	30	18	9	15	77	.266	.309	.369	.678
2009	--	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	KCR	139	130	5	1	0	14	3	4	5	42	.223	.252	.277	.529
2009	--	Royals	ARIZ	Rook	KCR	135	122	6	2	3	16	15	5	10	35	.311	.366	.467	.833
2 Seasons						497	455	19	4	3	47	32	13	28	140	.229	.278	.308	.585

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 11/3/2009.

We drafted Llanos in the 6th Round of the 2008 draft out of Puerto Rico. He was known as a toolsy, raw kid who had some potentail with the bat. He was relatively young--playing the 2008 Arizona League at the age of 17 and posting an uninspiring 471 OPS. In his second go around in Arizona he did much better. He struggled again when he was promoted to Idaho Falls. He's still very young (won't turn 20 until next September) and I'm guessing he'll get a second go at Idaho Falls this coming year.

35--Chris Nicoll-RHP--Age:26

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	25	2 Teams	2 Lgs	AA-AAA	KCR	4.47	39	1	88.2	1.410	9.1	0.8	3.6	7.7	2.17
2009	25	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	KCR	3.50	33	1	61.2	1.395	8.8	0.6	3.8	8.5	2.23
2009	25	Omaha	PCL	AAA	KCR	6.67	6	0	27.0	1.444	10.0	1.3	3.0	6.0	2.00
5 Seasons						3.83	123	5	397.0	1.234	8.0	0.9	3.1	9.4	3.06

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

This is an agressive ranking for Nicoll--but I've always liked him. Nicoll was our 3rd round pick in 2005. He has battled injuries in the past and has been moved to the pen for the past couple of years. He pitched pretty well at AA last year but struggled at AAA. He's a flyball pitcher--so he will be suseptible to the HR. I think he can go back to AAA in 2010 and, if he performs well, could contribute later next year.

34--Brandon Sisk--LHP--Age:24

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	23	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	KCR	1.92	45	21	61.0	0.787	4.4	0.3	2.7	11.5	4.33
2 Seasons						1.75	67	23	143.2	0.974	5.5	0.3	3.3	11.4	3.50

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

The Royals recently signed Adam Frost--a 22 year old SS-from the independant leagues. Perhaps they were inspired by the success Brandon Sisk has found. We signed Sisk out of the Indy Leagues in 2008 and he been very successful so far. I've heard that his stuff is not overpowering but he seems to get the most out of it. He is pitching in the Arizona Fall League where he has pitched well in 8ip which bodes well that he could continue his success in AA in 2010.

33--Crawford Simmons--LHP--Age:19

We drafted Simmons in th 14th Round out of HS in Georgia. We signed him away from Georgia Tech. We gave him way over slot money ($450,000) because he has an average fastball but a couple of potential plus pitches in his curve and his change-up. The Royals seem to be targetting young pitchers who have several good pitches as opposed to one great one. As I've said before, I like this strategy. Simmons is a good prospect if he has an average pitch and 2 plus pitches. If Simmons' fastball gains velocity as he fills out he could become a very good prospects. The odds are against that but its worth half a million to gamble. Simmons will play short season ball next year.

32--Juan Abreu--RHP--Age:24

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	24	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A_adv-AA	KCR	3.67	36	16	41.2	1.512	5.8	0.9	7.8	11.4	1.47
2009	24	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	KCR	1.69	20	12	21.1	1.031	3.4	0.4	5.9	11.8	2.00
2009	24	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	KCR	5.75	16	4	20.1	2.016	8.4	1.3	9.7	11.1	1.14
4 Seasons						4.90	92	25	220.1	1.530	8.0	0.7	5.7	10.9	1.90

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

He certainly does strike a lot of people out. But he walks a bunch of them too and he's a flyball pitcher and he's not terribly young. He was pretty lucky with homers at Wilmington and not so lucky at Northwest Arkansas. He's the kind of pitcher you are afraid the second he leaves this team will figure it out and become some other teams Robinson Tejeda. He'll probably go back to AA in 2010 to see if he can harness his stuff.

31--Tug Hulett--2B--Age:26

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	26	Omaha	PCL	AAA	KCR	442	374	27	4	11	53	9	2	58	79	.291	.384	.473	.858
6 Seasons						2833	2333	146	25	39	287	102	31	421	517	.284	.394	.418	.812

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

Will this guy ever get a chance? He gets on base, has some power, doesn't kill you at 2nd base--that is valuable. We picked him up from Seattle last Spring and he got a cup of coffee last year with the big club. With the possible addition of Chris Getz--along with Callaspo/Bloomquist, it looks like 2nd base is going to be pretty packed. My guess is that we send him along to another club where he becomes a useful player.

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 4 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

sweet jesus abreu 7.8 BB/9

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Nov 6, 2009 12:29 PM EST reply actions

he's going to fit right in with our OBP philosophy

someone get him a bat

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Nov 6, 2009 12:58 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

ha!

The Alex Gordon era - www.number4thesmirk.com

by CollininCalifornia on Nov 6, 2009 1:04 PM EST up reply actions

pehaps Dayton has the OBP thing backwards...

“Shit… hitters are supposed to walk?”
-Dayton Moore (circa 30 seconds ago)

The Alex Gordon era - www.number4thesmirk.com

by CollininCalifornia on Nov 6, 2009 1:05 PM EST up reply actions

Good read

I could see where Sisk might rank higher than this – but then again, unlike the Royals organization, I put as much stock in stats as the scouting outlook for a guy. Granted, he was old for High A – but those numbers are REALLY good, and being a potential LOOGY might mean your stuff isn’t supposed to look overpowering in the first place…

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Nov 6, 2009 1:06 PM EST reply actions