Your Mid-Season Royals Minor League All-Star team

Hey so almost half a season in the book, eh? Remember in December when we were dying for baseball to begin and couldn't wait until March/April? Well, we're almost halfway there to that same feeling. In this world you've got to look at the glass both half empty and half full.

Just like we did last year at mid-season, here is the official Royals Review Minor League All-Star team.

Here are the rules from last year:

Generally players will be nominated, and immediately elected without vote, regardless of their prospectdom, but if the results are close, I will side with the guy who's a better prospect against a guy who may not even be a prospect at all. Meanwhile the player in the more advanced league will get more credit.

C - Zane Evans, Northwest Arkansas

172 wRC+ .287/.332/.526 9 HR 36 RBI in 184 PA

Evans had a rough go last year in Wilmington, disappointing for a Division I college guy, but hit well in the return to High A ball and now continues to hit in AA.

1B - Ryan O'Hearn, Lexington

134 wRC+ .259/.327/.498 16 HR 37 RBI in 269 PA

O'Hearn is coming off a Pioneer League MVP season last year and is in the conversation for the Sally League MVP this year too. He leads the Sally League in home runs with 16 (6 more than the second place hitter) and tied for second in all the minor leagues.

2B - Carlos Garcia, Wilmington

128 wRC+ .270/.352/.370 2 HR 19 RBI in 233 PA

This was a tougher one as there weren't a lot of good candidates (anyone hitting well is older than you'd like or the younger guys have been bad), but Garcia is 23 years old. Signed as a July 2 guy way back in 2009, Garcia has developed extremely slowly, but he's finally gotten out of Lexington and has hit will so far in High A ball.

SS - Raul Mondesi, Northwest Arkansas

84 wRC+ .266/.281/.404 3 HR 16 RBI in 118 PA

Much like the second base crop, this shortstop class is weak this year in the organization. It came down between Mondesi and Kenny Diekgroeger (who is five years older than Mondesi in the same level), but a 91 wRC+ from a 19-year old in AA is nice. It also helps that Mondesi is a whiz defensively.

*Edit* After the overnight stat update, Mondesi now has an 84 wRC+ rather than 91.

3B - Cheslor Cuthbert, Omaha

102 wRC+ .272/.335/.426 8 HR 28 RBI in 260 PA

Another tough one, but Cuthbert wins by default really despite his basically league average line. He has played a good bit of third base despite the talk of him hopping around the diamond, and meanwhile he's still young at age 22.

OF - Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado, Lexington

140 wRC+ .313/.358/.486 8 HR 32 RBI in 266 PA

The youngest player ever drafted is finally putting his tools to use and starting to hit. Alfredo just turned 20 in February and as most teenagers do, he's put on some size which has translated to some good power.

OF - Elier Hernandez, Lexington

115 wRC+ .284/.328/.424 4 HR 33 RBI in 256 PA

Arguably the best hitting prospect in his signing class, Hernandez has an advanced approach with good power, but his over-aggressive ways have held back his hitting. This year he's making better contact in his repeat of Lexington.

OF - Bubba Starling Northwest, Arkansas

126 wRC+ .305/.390/.516 5 HR 21 RBI in 146 PA

Can you believe it? Starling's insane tools are finally coming together a bit. He demolished Wilmington (an extreme pitchers park, though it was his second time in the league) and was hot in AA before a hamstring injury sidelined him. Starling has continued to hit since returning, and most importantly his power has emerged. He still struck out way too much in Wilmington but has tamed the rate so far in AA.

DH - Balbino Fuenmayor, Northwest Arkansas

164 wRC+ .350/.385/.578 12 HR 41 RBI in 252 PA

I'll eventually write that piece on Fuenmayor that I've been wanting to do for weeks, but this blurb will have to suffice for now. Fuenmayor was once the Blue Jays tenth best prospect signing out of Venezuela back in 2006 but never fulfilled his potential. He was eventually released by the Blue Jays, played Independent Ball, won the Indy League MVP, played in the Venezuelan Winter League, destroyed it, and was signed by the Royals this winter. Now, he's 25 years old, but he's beat the hell out of the Texas league. He's really only a fringey prospect, if at all (given his age) but he's cut down on the strikeouts that plagued his younger years, gotten on base, and hit for a lot of power.

He's the guy I'd want as my DH on this roster by far.

P - Scott Blewett, Lexington

1-0 1.83 FIP 2.12 ERA 17 IP 10.6 K/9 2.1 BB/9

Blewett was a bit late to start the season, but has been spectacular since debuting. The big prep righty has shown really good stuff with command as well and is on his way to possibly being one of those nice underrated cold weather draft finds.

P - Eric Skoglund, Wilmington

6-2 2.51 FIP 2.77 ERA 74.2 IP 7.0 K/9 1.1 BB/9

Skoglund was taken alongside Blewett in last years draft and has performed well in his full season debut. He doesn't have to upside of Blewett or 2013 1st round Foster Griffin, but he's a tall lefty with an average or better changeup.

P - Christian Binford, Northwest Arkansas

2-6 2.65 FIP 5.82 ERA 60.1 IP 5.7 K/9 3.4 BB/9

Binford got hit pretty hard when he started the year out in Omaha. The Royals demoted him after only a few starts and he's been better in AA. The stuff is still the same, underwhelming but well commanded fastball, good slider, and fringey changeup. His calling card is his elite level command (which has come undone each time he goes to Omaha) and his funky arm slot/delivery help the stuff play a little better too.

P - Luke Farrell, Northwest Arkansas

3-2 3.74 FIP 4.00 ERA 54 IP 10.3 K/9 2.3 BB/9

Farrell was a part of a nice Lexington rotation that featured Blewett, Griffin, and Pedro Fernandez, but he was promoted to AA. He hasn't been as sharp in AA, but he's managed to pitch okay after getting moved up.

If you're unfamiliar with Farrell, he's the son of Red Sox manager John Farrell. Luke had two surgeries for a neck tumor in 2009 and 2011 that caused him to miss significant development time. He returned to Northwestern and was one of the better Big 10 pitchers in 2013. If you believe in "development age" then Farrell is younger than his actual age, 24.

P - Cody Reed, Lexington

5-5 2.86 FIP 2.14 ERA 67.1 IP 8.7 K/9 2.4 BB/9

Reed is coming around this season. Out of junior college he had good stuff but really poor command. He's honed his stuff in since his debut in 2013 where he's dropped his walk rate by more than 4 walks per 9 since then, and 1.5 since last year.

These players above won't get any superlatives or trophies for making the above team. However, there is a real world outside of these digital pages, and real world players are elected to real world all star teams, and the Royals had quite a few.

South Atlantic League (A Ball)

1B Ryan O'Hearn

OF Elier Hernandez

OF Alfredo Escalera-Maldonado

SP Pedro Fernandez

SP Zack Lovvorn

SP Matthew Strahm

Carolina League (A+)

2B Ramon Torres

SP Eric Skoglund

SP Cody Reed

SP Alec Mills

Texas League (AA)

1B Balbino Fuenmayor

2B Angel Franco

SS Raul Mondesi (reserve)

2B/OF Alex Liddi (reserve)

OF Terrance Gore (reserve)

OF Jorge Bonifacio

DH Mike Bianucci

SP J.C. Sulbaran

Omaha (AAA)

TBA