Yes, the Royals have a stocked minor league system. But not everyone can be Eric Hosmer. Our latest foray into the obscure world of non-hyped Royals prospects highlights Alex Llanos. For a buzz-less guy, Llanos was a reasonably high draft pick, as he was taken in the 6th round of the 2008 draft. Despite that decent first line to his resume, Llanos has never really put up any numbers that generated subsequent interest. In three Minor League seasons, he has posted a composite .239/.288/.326 line. On draft day 2008 I decided to make Alex Llanos my favorite Royal prospect, for absolutely no reason. Since I made that decision however, I've had a hard time remembering Llanos was still alive.
Llanos's internet life-story is considerably confused by the fact that another minor league baseballer named Alex Llanos, existed. That Llanos was playing in the Independent Leagues in the late 2000s, and is currently a coach. For that reason, the best season of Llanos's career on his Baseball Cube page wasn't even his own season.
Now our Alex Llanos began his baseball life at the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. Weirdly, he actually went there because it was close to his house and his parents like their math program. As it turns out however, the P.R. Baseball Academy has a really serious baseball program. It's almost, and I hope I'm not being unfair here... it's almost as if that's really all they do. Llanos struggled in 2008, but in his second go-round in Arizona, he improved to .311/.366/.467 line. In Arizona, but solid. Then Llanos fell on his face as a Chukar in 2009. Buzz-killed.
Llanos did better in 2010, hitting a still pedestrian .259/.308/.362. Like seemingly every other CF acquired during the Dayton Moore Era, Llanos is fast and... purported to be in the possession of a tool or too. The good news is that Llanos remains young (oh, if we could all say that!). 2011 will be Llanos's age-20 season, so there's still years left remaining on his baseball adolescence. In September of 2010, Clark Fosler called him a possible hidden gem. I could write that 2011 is a big year for Llanos, but I don't even know if that's the case. He might not even be a productive player at the AA level for another two years. Well, again, we're all bored as hell and not going anywhere anyway. What say we keep him on our radars?