Shadow Prospect Royals Update and Introduction of the Crowdsource Rankings

I've been running the Royals prospect shadow team over at our sister site Minor League Ball (not the same team as Duggan's offseason shadow team) in some capacity for the past two seasons. In 2013 I was the sole scouting director while in 2014 I shared the duties. The idea is that the entire community at Minor League Ball selects a team and then does a mock draft while trying to make somewhat realistic picks within the bonus limits. For instance, a team couldn't have drafted Mark Appel in 2012 in the 3rd round.

This draft has been going on for some time while the scouting directors have been inconsistent from year to year. I intend going forward to try to get the Royals every year, but it's first come first serve for teams, and the Royals were an attractive play this year given how many picks early on they had.

I take sole responsibility for the 2013 selections and joint-responsibility for the 2014 class. Everything else was done by others, but there are still some guys in there.

2014 Draft
# Overall	Name	Level	2014 stats	Actual # Overall
17th	Brad Zimmer	A-/A	.302/.400/.492 6 HR	21st
28th	Spencer Adams	Low-Rook	41.2 IP 3.67 ERA 59K 4BB	44th
40th	Erick Fedde		Tommy John	18th
56th	JJ Schwarz		Did not sign	506th
92nd	Sam Travis	A-/A	.316/.351/.467 7 HR	67th
123rd	Dylan Cease		Signed but did not play	169th

We may have been a little optimistic in keeping under the bonus pools here, but there was a good amount of money to play with.

Zimmer had a good year and hit for power which was a question mark for him pre-draft.

Adams had dominant stuff with his fastball and command. Ridiculous K:BB ratio

I wanted Forrest Wall in the next spot, but it wasn't my call.

Fedde signed just near the deadline for an overslot deal of around $400K

Schwarz elected to go to college

Sam Travis fell into our laps here and he eventually signed for exact slot with Boston. Strong year as the power bat we expected out of him

Cease signed with the Cubs for $1.5M which was probably well out of our budget, but the pick was chosen by John Sickels due to a computer malfunction of the co-director.

The Royals had about $7.5M to play with on those picks. If you subtract Schwarz slot (~$1M) then it's more like $6.5M.

Here were the bonuses for the guys who did sign:

Zimmer - $2M

Adams - $1.28M

Fedde - $2.5M

Travis - $846,800

Cease - $1.5M

So even with losing the Schwartz money we were able to get all those guys.

2013 Draft
# Overall	Name	Level	2014 stats	Actual # Overall
8th	Hunter Renfroe	A+/AA	.267/.342/.470 21 HR	13th
34th	Eric Jagielo	Rk/A+	.256/.351/.461 18HR	26th
46th	Ryan Eades	A	133IP 5.14 ERA 98K 50BB	43rd
82nd	Dylan Covey	A-/A+	140IP 5.46 ERA 92K 41BB	131st
114th	Drew Ward	A	.269/.341/.413 10HR	105th

I was a big fan of Renfroe pre-draft and was more than happy to take him 8th overall. In this draft I targeted power and we got it out of Renfroe and Jagielo. Neither one is going to hit for probably more than .270 in the major leagues, Jagielo likely more so than Renfroe, but 20+ home runs from both is a very good possibility. Renfroe has an ICBM launch pad attached to his shoulder and his RF defense has been passible. Jagielo has been choppy at 3B, but could supplant Moose.

Eades has been a bit of a dissapointment and command has been an issue. Covey has struggled as well, but hopefully being in the A's organization they can fix him. Ward has been the raw kid I expected but has been able to hit for some power.

2012 Draft
# Overall	Name	Level	2014 stats	Actual # Overall
4th	Mark Appel	A+/AA	83 IP 6.91 ERA 78K 24BB	8th
66th	Kyle Twomey		Did not sign	106th
100th	Kieran Lovegrove	A-	30 IP 3.90 ERA 14K 23BB	110th

The scouting director didn't show up so John Sickels himself handed this one. Appel is a tale of two seasons. Early and major struggles doomed him in A+ (including a 10 ER appearance) but then upon moving to AA he improved and pitched a line of 3.69 ERA with a 38K 13BB. The fastball has been a bit flat and he's been hittable, but reports have been better. Lovegrove is all projection and he has mechanical issues.

2011 Draft
# Overall	Name	Level	2014 stats	Actual # Overall
5th	Trevor Bauer	MLB	124 IP 3.99 ERA 8.71 K/9 3.7 B/9	3rd
2nd Rnd	Charlie Lowell	A+	7.1 IP 30.68 ERA 8K 14BB	193rd
3rd Rnd	Dominc Jose		Did not sign	465th

Bauer has been enigmatic, but has had a new approach this season and been a good pitcher. Lowell was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend and didn't play baseball at all in 2013 then proved rusty upon his brief return where he was used out of the bullpen. Jose didn't sign and was drafted this year by the Yankees in the 24th round.

2010 Draft
# Overall	Name	Level	2014 stats	Actual # Overall
4th	Yasmani Grandal	MLB	.211/.306/.370 11 HR	12th
54th	AJ Vanegas		Did not sign
86th	Jason Adam	AA/AAA	120 IP 4.70 ERA 103K 36BB

Grandal probably went a little earlier than he should have, pre-draft rankings had him near 10th overall, but it's not too crazy to see him go 4th. Struggled in his MLB career. Vanegas did not sign with the Padres in 2010, nor the Athletic's in 2013, but did so his senior year with the Dodgers this year. You all know the newly Twin'd Jason Adam.

MLB

Yasmani Grandal

Trevor Bauer

Top 5 prospects:

Appel

Renfroe

Zimmer

Adams

Jagielo

So the shadow system yielded two MLB players so far and has a nice outfield duo with Renfroe/Zimmer. Appel could be a potential front line piece if he lives up to his ceiling with Adams slotting just behind if he can fully develop. Jagielo is probably moving to the outfield.

The next item up is the introduction of our crowdsourcing the Royals top prospects. We batted around a number for a day and decided on doing a Top 15. We think you guys can handle that.

It'll go like this:

Over the next few weeks or so we'll publish articles for certain slots in the Royals top 15. The first one will be spots 15-11, then 10-7, then 6-4, and finally the 3-1.

Electing players will be easy. In the comments section will be a post for each spot. You can simply comment a players name that you'd like to rank in that slot. We'll tally the votes and then release the results.

Pretty simple process, but before I do my Top 30 I'd like to release the crowdsource results at the same time.

Keep an eye out.