Non-Hyped Royals Prospects: 3B Jamie Romak

Our next non-hyped prospect is 3B and FORMER BRAVE Jamie Romak. Romak is no longer hyped, but once, back in 2007-08, he kinda was. These two facts are not unrelated. When the Braves trade a guy, he tends to enjoy a brief period of fame. Thus, when the Pirates picked him up along with Adam Larouche in exchange for Mike Gonzalez and Brent Lillibridge (weird trade) Romak instantly became one of Pittsburgh's better prospects. Supposedly. I mean, he was a Brave.

(Though he loses Magic Tomahawk Points because he's Canadian. Nothing beats a Brave + Southern combo. If a broadcaster can't fill two minutes of dead air by saying "nobody scouts the South like those Braves. They've done it for years and you can't argue with the results," during a game, then you aren't special.)

Three years later, Romak was just another minor league free agent. Signed by the Royals in 2010, Romak split last season between Wilmington and NWA and has been resigned for the 2011 season. Taken in the 4th round of the 2003 draft, the dude's been around forever. Through three organizations and a handful of injuries, Romak has posted consistently interesting but not that great offensive lines. 2009 was a notable low point and 2010 was a high one. As a 24 year old, Romak hit .304/.388/.458 in 82 games at Wilmington and .278/.389/.459 in 49 games at NWA. Interesting.

Romak's always taken a walk or two and he really looks like a classic 3B in terms of offensive profile: below average BA but a good OBP and above average power. Of course, you generally don't want to be 24 before you play a game at AAA, but we all have things we're ashamed of. The bigger problem might be that he can't stay at 3B, something that may have already happened. 1B/DH is paradoxically a tough place to break into the Major Leagues, and the Royals look pretty set there for the next decade or so.