Royals Announce Instructional League Participants

I'm a bit behind the curve on this one and didn't get to catch all the updates and full release until today, but the Royals have released their players going to "compete" in the instructional league this September and October. I say "compete" because there mostly spring training-esque games where players are just working on things, much like the Arizona Fall League can be, but they will play in live games.

The Royals instructional league plays in Surprise Arizona. Workouts begin September 15th and then games begin September 22nd to October 17th. This coincides relatively well with the mentioned Arizona Fall League which begins games 10 days earlier on October 7th.

Between the AFL and "instructs" a good majority of the Royals top 10 prospects, if not all, will play in some sort of baseball this fall. Names for the AFL, which includes Hunter Dozier, Bubba Starling, and Raul Mondesi, have been covered last week.

Royals advanced instructional team

Pitchers

RHP Kyle Zimmer

LHP Sean Manaea

LHP Kyle Bartsch

RHP Zach Lovvorn

RHP Jake Newberry

LHP Cody Reed

LHP Luis Rico

RHP Andrew Edwards

RHP Pedro Fernandez

RHP Glenn Sparkman

RHP Niklas Stephenson

RHP Matt Alvarez

RHP Daniel Stumpf

Catchers

Zane Evans

Chad Johnson

Cam Gallagher

Infielders

Raul Mondesi

Humberto Arteaga

Mauricio Ramos

Frank Schwindel

Ramon Torres

Jack Lopez

Outfielders

Elier Hernandez

Alfredo Escalera

Dominique Taylor

Royals "regular" instructional team

Pitchers

RHP Evan Beal

RHP Scott Blewett

LHP Foster Griffin

LHP Dylan Sons

LHP Matt Strahm

LHP Cole Way

LHP Emmanuel Camacho

LHP Estarlin Cordero

RHP Torey Deshazier

LHP Austin Fairchild

RHP Kevin McCarthy

RHP Kevin Perez

RHP Julio Pinto

LHP Haynes Hunter

RHP Carter Hope

RHP Alberto Rodriguez

RHP Michael Jeffreys

RHP Yunior Marte

RHP Corey Ray

LHP Colin Rodgers

Catchers

Chase Vallot

Michael Arroyo

Mike Hill

Kyle Pollock

Melbrys Viloria

Pedro Gonzalez

Infielders

Brandon Dulin

Wander Franco

Ryan O'Hearn

Manny Olloque

Corey Toups

Ryan Dale

Ricky Aracena

Samir Duenez

Marten Gasparini

Jose Martinez

Outfielders

Leland Clemmons

Cristhian Vasquez

Amalani Fukofuka

Brandon Downes

Rudy Martin

Logan Moon

Robert Perhl

Lot of interesting guys on the list including:

Ryan O'Hearn - Pioneer League MVP slugger

Corey Toups - O'Hearn's college roommate and fringe prospect

Marten Gasparini - Italian wunderkind

Samir Duenez - bigger time IFA signing

Chase Vallot - raw power catcher

Cole Way - College punter turned reliever

Foster Griffin - first round pick

Scott Blewett - 2014 second rounder

Dominique Taylor - undersized guy who's moving up the ladder at a good pace

Elier Hernandez - big time IFA who's struggled

Ramon Torres - like Taylor, he's a sleeper prospect

Niklas Stephenson - started using weighted balls during practice and has seen a big velocity jump

Glenn Sparkman - enigma that has done well in pitcher friendly Wilmington but is relatively unknown

Also the rumor going around is that Zimmer will join the Arizona Fall League team soon after instructs have ended and then continue to pitch in one of the Caribbean Leagues.

Sean Manaea is reported to be used in two-four inning stints once a week during instructs.