Here are five interesting 2009 seasons from guys on the Burlington Royals.
-
Gabe MacDougall: MacDougall has hit .207/.378/.276 in his first 37 PAs as a minor leaguer. Even if it's only in eight games, a .378 OBP is a rarity in the Royal system. I can't pretend to know much about this 27th round pick from this year's draft, but he's shown up and started taking walks, which I like.
Yowill Espinal: Espinal's .719 OPS is the highest on the B-Royals, on the strength of his .396 slugging. Trust the process.
Jovan Pickett: Pickett leads the team with 23 steals. As we might expect from a Royals minor league team at this point, the B-Royals have a number of guys who steal bases, many of them not actually that well. Yowill Espinal, for example, has 19 steals, and has been caught 14 times. Pickett, however, has only been gunned down 7 times. Now if the leftfielder can just build on his .259/.318/.296 line.
Gregory Billo: Billo, a 28th round pick from 2008, has 51 strikeouts in 54.2 innings (8 starts, 5 RP appearances) pitched this season. His walk numbers are pretty good (16) and he's posted a 1.81 ERA. So far a nice start for a Illinois HS prospect.
Keaton Hayenga: Hayenga leads the B-Royals in innings pitched at 60.1. Used exclusively as a starter, Hayenga has posted a 3.88 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and middling strikeout numbers (31). Hayenga is a regarded by some as a top Royals prospect.