Kevin Goldstein Hates the Royals and Is Stupid

Baseball Prospectus (subscription may be required) ranks the Royals minor league system No. 16, only one ahead of the no-talent Seattle Mariners.

almost 3 years ago Gopherballs 9 comments 1 recs |

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We're ahead of the Twins

Who play the game the right way.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 17, 2009 1:43 PM EDT reply actions

And they used to have a good front office

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Mar 17, 2009 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Particularly given his opinion of the Royals pitching prospects (good, but not great) and the fact that the Royals only have three good position player prospects. And he sees the system as likely to continue to improve.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Mar 17, 2009 1:48 PM EDT reply actions

Plus, as I think it was RoyalsRetro who put it on one of the prior prospects threads

virtually all of the top talent is still in A ball or below. When the value of the system is so heavily based on the projection of prospects several years away from the majors, the rankings are just not going to credit that system the same as ones with more major league ready or near ready prospects. Really, this year’s rankings are pretty irrelevant (not that these type of rankings are very relevant to begin with) given how the Royals system skews so young. For the Royals, what is relevant is how the system stacks up two years from now when most of the top prospects should be in the high minors on their way to the majors.

by Gopherballs on Mar 17, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

I think this is probably a key year to see how our lower level pitching prospects do. The good thing is, we have so many guys with high upside – Melville, Montgomery, Duffy, Sample, Gutierrez, Barrera, that even if some bust, we have strength in numbers.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Mar 17, 2009 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

The numbers are in out favor

There are so many very good/good/pretty good prospects that at least some of them are going to break through into the top 100 and maybe even top 50 prospect level after their 2009 performances.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Mar 17, 2009 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Generally agree although I might substitute 2010 for 2009

Half of these pitchers will spend most of the year in the Midwest League, which is such an extreme pitching friendly league that they will be expected to put up crazy numbers.

by Gopherballs on Mar 17, 2009 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

But if we're talking about prospect rankings (and prospect evaluation in general)

…then we’re talking more about tools than stats, particularly for guys at those ages at those levels. So a “breakthrough” is going to be more about showing very impressive and improved stuff/control than a shiny ERA.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Mar 17, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions