After an extremely successful first 6 weeks of the season, the month of May ended on an ominous note in the Royals' minor league system. Injuries to Moose and Monty coupled with struggles from Hoz and Crow have left some question marks that will hopefully be answered in June. Of course, June is also a big month because this list will probably look a lot different after the draft and after short-season ball starts in the middle of the month.
There were some success stories in May: John Lamb had a great month and got promoted to Wilmington. Wil Myers tore apart the Midwest league--very tough for a teenager to do. Salvador Perez turned 20 while performing well in the Carolina League. Perez and Myers give the Royals some depth in the minors at catcher. And there may be one more piece of promising news: over at the Scout Royals board, there are rumors that there will be Dan Duffy news in the next few days. I don't normally give message board rumors much credence but the poster this is coming from consistently has info before the regular public does.
As always starts are for hitters: avg--obp--slg and for pitchers: K/9---BB/9--FIP ERA| Rank | Name | Last Month | May Stats | YTD | Comment |
| 1 | Mike Moustakas--3B--AA | 5 | 393/486/775 | 374/459/764 | Huge May vaults him to top spot. |
| 2 | Mike Montgomery--LHP--AA | 1 | 7.4/3.0/3.27 |
AA 7.4/3.03.27 HighA 11.9/1.7/1.34 |
Everyone hold's their breath that his arm is OK. |
| 3 | Eric Hosmer--1B--HighA | 2 | 301/355/434 | 349/416/508 | Cooled down toward the end of May |
| 4 | Wil Myers--C--LowA | 4 | 330/459/500 | 282/383/471 | Incredible numbers for a 19 year old in Midwest League. |
| 5 | Aaron Crow--RHP--AA | 3 | 4.9/4.1/4.77 | 5.0/3.6/5.06 | Needs to turn it on and stay consistent |
| 6 | John Lamb--LHP--LowA | 6 |
LowA 9.0/1.5/2.75 HighA 8.8/2.2/2.28 |
LowA 9.6/3.8/3.31 HighA 8.8/2.2/2.28 |
Following the Mike Montgomery path to top prospect status. |
| 7 | Noel Arguelles--LHP--DL | 7 | NA | NA | We are all wondering if he really exists. |
| 8 | Tim Melville--RHP--HighA | 8 | 7.6/2.3/3.30 | 7.9/3.9/3.88 | Has been better of late and I still think he's a quality prospect.. His FIP is a lot lower than his ERA. |
| 9 | Kila Kaaihue--1B--AAA | 10 | 378/576/711 | 333/500/650 | reason #203 to bring him up: I'm running out of compliments for him. |
|
10 |
Derrick Robinson--CF--AA | 11 | 286/374/339 | 302/394/390 | Slumped at beginning of month but turned it back around the past couple of weeks. |
| 11 | Chris Dwyer--LHP--HighA | 14 | 7.9/3.1/3.50 | 8.3/4.2/3.87 | Has steadily improved over the first couple of months. |
| 12 | David Lough--CF--AAA | 13 | 291/320/470 | 274/307/418 | Followed a tough April with a better May. |
| 13 | Johnny Giavotella--2B--AA | 12 | 250/296/336 | 279/350/358 | Had a tough May after a good April. |
| 14 | Salvador Perez--C--HighA | 27 | 292/33/514 | 289/328/446 | Good defensive catcher performing well at HighA while being one of the youngest players in league. |
| 15 | Kelvin Herrera--RHP--LowA | 9 | 5.8/0.6/3.39 | 8.4/3.2/3.32 | Went on DL--continues to battle injury--but has a great arm. Some wonder if he will have to move to bullpen. |
| 16 | Tyler Sample--RHP--LowA | 16 | 7.1/5.7/4.26 | 7.1/6.6/4.40 | Another great arm who is struggling to put it together but has pitched better of late. |
| 17 | Jordan Parraz--RF--AAA | 17 | 353/500/506 | 259/374/395 | His May was as good as his April was bad. |
| 18 | Luis Coleman--RHP--AA | 20 | 9.3/2.1/2.53 | 8.0/2.6/3.64 | Advanced arm you could see in KC this summer perhaps. |
| 19 | Patrick Keating--RHP--HighA | 25 | 13.2/1.1/0.93 | 13.1/2.3/2.29 | Destroying High A, needs the challenge of AA. |
| 20 | Tim Smith--OF--AA | 26 | 305/380/500 | 309/380/495 | This kid can hit, need to stay healthy. Feeling better about the Gutierrez trade. |
| 21 | Cheslor Cuthbert--3B--EXST | 22 | NA | NA | Hopefully our big international signing from last year will be in action this month. |
| 22 | Yowil Espinal--SS--EXST | 23 | NA | NA | Toolsy SS, I'm guessing he will play in Idaho Falls |
| 23 | Carlos Fortuna--RHP--EXST | 21 | NA | NA | Young arm with good upside. |
| 24 | Edgar Osuna--LHP--AA | 28 | 4.5/1.4/3.56 | 5.8/1.2/3.59 | The stuff doesn't impress me but the numbers do |
| 25 | Jai Miller--CF--AAA | NR | 247/340/494 | 223/307/397 | An underrated pickup, this kid could actually be useful--with good defense and a bat that doesn't hurt you. |
| 26 | Manual Pina--C--AA | 24 | 246/316/362 | 262/343/410 | Just like last year, great first month but then started struggling--but was also a little unlucky |
| 27 | Dan Duffy--LHP--? | 15 | NA | NA | He will keep dropping every month nothing happens. |
| 28 | Mario Santiago--RHP--AA | 32 | 4.2/3.3/4.41 | 4.9/3.0/3.73 | Needs more K's as he is doing so-so at AA. |
| 29 | Rey Navarro--SS--HighA | 18 | 198/223/253 | 198/223/253 | Unlucky but still not very good numbers. |
| 30 | Blaine Hardy--RHP--AAA | 35 |
AA 6.4/2.0/3.60 AAA 3.0/0.0/3.00 |
AA 5.3/2.6/3.13 AAA 3.0/0.0/3.00 |
He got promoted to AAA but wasn't the best reliever on his AA team--but he is still worth keeping an eye on. |
| 31 | Buddy Baumann--RHP--HighA | 33 |
7.9/4.5/3.25 | 10.2/4.7/2.67 | K rate dropped off in May--so his numbers were OK this month but not great. |
| 32 | Brandon Sisk--LHP--AA | 31 | 5.6/2.6/3.59 | 6.8/3.3/4.29 | One of a hoard of bullpen arms in the Royals system |
| 33 | Clint Robinson--1B--AA | 29 | 246/331/439 | 257/360/437 | Still doing OK at AA but being overshadowed by mega-talented teammates. |
| 34 | Chris Hayes--RHP--AAA | 30 | 3.0/1.5/5.66 | 1.6/0.8/4.75 | Hasn't found his groove yet. |
| 35 | Crawford Simmons--LHP--EXST | 38 | NA | NA | Talented left-hander drafted last year should finally throw his first pro pitch this month |
| 36 | Dusty Odenbach--RHP--LowA | NR | 8.6/5.7/3.53 | 9.7/4.7/3.42 | Draftee from last year given chance to start in his final outing of the month--not sure if that was a one time thing or not. |
| 37 | Greg Holland--RHP--AAA | 41 | 4.4/3.8.4.85 | 6.2/2.9/3.73 | Has had decent numbers in past but scuffling a little this year. |
| 38 | Paulo Orlando--CF--AA |
NR | 400/426/631 | 304/348/448 | Had a great May but I'm not sold. |
| 39 | Alex Llanos--CF--EXST | 42 | NA | NA | Part of the Royals collection of CFers with speed and questionable bats. |
| 40 | Jeff Bianchi--SS--DL | 40 | NA | NA | recovering from TJ surgery |
| 41 | Alex Caldera--RHP--HighA | NR | 8.5/1.4/3.79 | 8.8/2.0/3.37 | Has put up pretty good numbers, I don't know much about his stuff. |
| 42 | Keaton Hayenga--RHP--LowA | 39 | 4.39/3.1/4.6 | 4.39/3.1/4.6 | Rough LowA debut--although his FIP isn't nearly as bad. His stuff has yet to really translate. |
| 43 | Shin Jo Ho |
NR | NA | NA | Very intrigued to see what the young catcher does in pro ball |
| 44 | Irving Falu--SS--AAA |
NR |
328/366/379 | 307/355/356 | Utility guy that might be a 25th man on a roster |
| 45 | Carlos Testa--OF--LowA | NR | 269/343/495 | 266/360/474 | 2008 draftee has put up good numbers but 23 is way old for midwest league. |
| 46 | Jarrod Dyson--CF--DL | 49 | NA | NA | Still hurt. |
| 47 | Bryan Paukovits--LHP--LowA | NR | 10.4/2.8/3.65 | 10.1/3.0/3.18 | a little old for league but is supposed to have some decent stuff. |
| 48 | Hilton Richardson--CF--LowA | 37 | 176/235/341 | 195/250/356 | Lots of tools but no performance. |
| 49 | Jason Taylor--3B--HighA | 43 | 111/142/111 | 191/228/319 |
Has been hurt but had 27 horrib le ABs in May |
| 50 | Jerico Blanco--OF--EXST | NR | NA | NA | I like this international signee from 2 years ago and am hopeful to see what he does in the Arizona League. |
Player of the Month: Mike Moustakas
All Moose did this month was change perceptions from him being first round bust to one of the top power hitting prospects in the game. His power is huge and he has increased his batting average thanks to more line drives, fewer K's, and some luck on BABIP. His walk rate has increased but most of that is due to intentional walks. I haven't heard much about his defense this year but it has always graded out as excellent according to Total Zone. I think the Royals would like to keep him in AA all this year and bring Hosmer up to AA and have the most talented team in the minors but Moose might force their hand. He could certainly be ready for the big show by the start of 2011 but I'm greedy and wouldn't mind pushing his FA clock back a year by waiting until the beginning of June 2011.
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