Baseball America ranks four Royals prospects in their mid-season top 100 list

Baseball America ranks four Royals prospect in its updated mid-season Top 100 prospect list, the most the Royals have placed on the list since before the 2015 season. Bobby Witt, Jr. the #2 overall selection from the 2019 draft, enters the list as the #21 prospect in all of baseball. Right-handed pitcher Jackson Kowar, a 2018 draft pick out of Florida, also enters the list for the first time at #66 after his promotion to Double-A this year. Two other 2018 draft picks - left-handed pitcher Daniel Lynch and right-hander pitcher Brady Singer ranked were ranked #78 and #94, respectively.

Before the season, Brady Singer was the only Royals prospect in the top 100, ranking at #71, and the year before that, not a single Royals prospect made the list. The Royals last placed four prospects on the list before the 2015 season, when Adalberto Mondesi, Brandon Finnegan, Kyle Zimmer, and Sean Manaea made the list. Baseball America notes that Singer experienced the biggest drop in their rankings out of any prospect. Singer has struggled in a few starts since his promotion to Double-A with an ERA of 4.97 in eight starts, although he looked better his last time out, giving up three runs (all unearned) in six innings on Wednesday.

Baseball America also updated their ranking of the top 30 prospects in the Royals organization, with Witt, Kowar, Lynch, and Singer topping the list. Outfielder Khalil Lee is ranked #5, with 2018 draftees outfielder Kyle Isbel and left-handed pitcher Kris Bubic ranked behind him. Catcher M.J. Melendez sits at #8 despite a rough offensive season in High-A Wilmington. Infielder Brady McConnell, the Royals’ second round pick in the 2019 draft, is ranked #9, with 2017 first-round pick first baseman Nick Pratto rounding out the top ten.

Jonathan Bowlan is the biggest riser on the list, going from being unranked before the season to being ranked #13 in the mid-season update. Bowlan has a 2.78 ERA with 112 strikeouts in 103 2/3 innings across Low-A and High-A and tossed a no-hitter last week for Wilmington. Pitcher Daniel Tillo also went from unranked to making the list and outfielder Michael Gigliotti is also a big riser in his return after missing most of last season with an ACL injury.