Keeping Tabs on the Future: Following the Royals Top Prospects

With all of the hype surrounding the Royals farm system, more people than in the past will be focused on how the Royals top prospects are performing. Strong performances will cause people to call for the prospects to be promoted, while weak performances will cause many to worry if too much pressure has been placed on such young players. Either way, it should be an exciting year for the Royals farm system. To help keep everyone up to date, this will be a weekly article reviewing how the players performed the past week. Ideally, we could keep track of how everyone in the system is doing, however, that would require an incredible amount of labor and few people really care how well Jeff Suppan is pitching for the Storm Chasers. So i have chosen who I think are the most important and interesting prospects in the Royals farm system. I will list them after the jump, and describe how they did in their first game yesterday.

AAA:

Mike Moustakas (3B) - Moustakas had an RBI single in the third inning, but was hitless in his other four at-bats. He also struck out in his last two, and made a fielding error in the sixth

Eric Hosmer (1B) - In his first Triple-A game, Hosmer went 2-for-5 with two singles and scoring a run.

Mike Montgomery (SP) - Montgomery was hit hard in his first start of the season, allowing five runs on six hits in five innings of work. He struck out three batters and walked two, but did force eight groundouts compared to one flyout.

Danny Duffy (SP) - Did not pitch in the first game, and I assume he will start Saturday's game; Suppan is the probable pitcher for Friday's game.

Johnny Giavotella (2B) - Giavotella went 1-for-5 in the opener, but struck out in his first Triple-A at-bat.

David Lough (RF) - Lough went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored before being removed for Irving Falu in the bottom of the sixth inning.

AA:

Wil Myers (RF) - Myers hit third in his first game for the Naturals, going 1-for-4 with a strikeout.

Chris Dwyer (SP) - Dwyer battled in his first start of the season, giving up three runs on four hits in four innings. He struck out four while walking three, and only threw 78 pitches, 44 of them for strikes.

John Lamb (SP) - Lamb will duel fellow top prospect Casey Kelly Friday night in the series second game. Kelly is one of the pieces the Padres acquired from Boston for trading the Adrian Gonzalez.

Christian Colon (2B) - Colon went 2-for-4, including a home run in his first at-bat of the season. He struck out once, and was caught stealing.

Salvador Perez (C) - Perez went 0-for-2 with a walk, but did throw out the only runner who attempted to steal on him.

Derrick Robinson (CF) - Robinson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but did steal second after reaching base on a fielder choice.

High-A:

Tim Melville (SP) - The righthander will start the Blue Rocks opener on Friday night.

Jake Odirizzi (SP)

Noel Arguelles (SP)

Low-A:

Brett Eibner (CF) - Eibner hit a solo homerun in his first professional at-bat. He finished 1-for-3 on the day, striking out once while walking once.

So those are 16 guys I will for sure update on during the season. When short season kicks off, I will add Robinson Yambati, Cheslor Cuthbert, Jason Adam and Yordano Ventura to the list of players. Is there anyone else you think I should keep updates on all season? Let me know in the comments. I know I will be watching how Will Smith and Clint Robinson perform, but don't know if there is enough interest in them to write about all season long. I hope this article will help keep everyone up to date on how the Royals Prospects are performing.