January 2024

Up next, meet our team of MLB Contributors covering the #Royals this season! We still have plenty of room to grow this team. Check out our openings page if you’re interested!

Excited to see what the season holds for these guys.

There will be a new manager at the helm in Columbia this year, but a familiar face. Jesus Azuaje has served as the team’s hitting coach since 2021. He was announced as the team’s next manager earlier in the week. He takes over for Tony Pena Jr. who will assume a new role as the organization’s Minor League Infield Coordinator. Azuaje joined the Royals staff in 2015 as a hitting coach in the minors, after a 13-year playing career.

Ari Adut returns this season as the hitting coach, with John Habyan returning as the pitching coach for another season. New additions to this year’s staff include, assistant hitting coach Kyle MacKinnon, and assistant pitching coach Sam Freeman.

Players to watch in 2024 will be highlighted by the eighth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Catcher Blake Mitchell out of Clear Lake, Texas should debut in Low-A. Young returners such as Austin Charles, Lizandro Rodriguez, and Daniel Vazquez should make for a solid infield. Outfielders with a chance to show growth are Spencer Nivens and Erick Peña. Peña struggled last year with an obscene strikeout rate near 50%. Later in the year, that landed him on the Development List. Hopefully, he can rediscover some promise at the plate with another full offseason under his belt.

With Carson Roccaforte likely to move up, newcomers Erick Torres and Milo Rushford could play into the mix as well. They’ll likely factor in more later in the year if either of those above is ready to make the mid-season jump to the next level.

In the rotation, starting pitchers Hiro Wyatt and Blake Wolters should look to fill the roles of Frank Mozzicato and Ben Kudrna. Each of the 2021 draftees started last season in Columbia but earned mid-season promotions to Quad Cities. Both should start 2024 back in Davenport looking to prove themselves once again.

After much ado about maybe something, the Kansas City Royals have a Top-100 prospect. It’s their first since outfielder Gavin Cross fell off the list in the middle of last season. On Friday, MLB Pipeline released their updated list of the best prospects in the game. On it, catcher Blake Mitchell ranks as the 94th overall prospect. Mitchell, of course, was selected eighth overall last summer. The pick was met with hefty criticism, especially with a more developed backstop in Kyle Teel still on the board.

The Royals believed in the upside and the talent enough to take the risk on the lefty masher out of Sinton, Texas. You can more information on Mitchell and his abilities on our prospect profile. He’s yet to debut in full-season affiliated baseball but should get the chance to open the 2024 season with Low-A Columbia. Beyond Mitchell, the Kansas City farm system continues to receive the cold shoulder from the national media. Baseball America didn’t include a single Royals prospect on their top 100 list that was released earlier this month.

While some of that lack of attention is with merit – the farm system is definitely on the mend after a handful of rough draft selections — it still seems to be overlooking some solid prospects. The first that comes to mind is lefty Frank Mozzicato. Mozzicato was the Royals’ seventh overall selection in the 2021 MLB Draft. He will be 20 years old until June and made his way to High-A Quad Cities last season. His repertoire features a fastball and slider with above-average potential. Alongside them, he boasts an impressive curveball with plus potential, and a solid changeup. The command has been questionable but doesn’t tell the full story of Mozzicato.

Sure, the lack of velocity matters too but at such a young age, there’s plenty of time for that to arrive. Despite the lack of velocity, he still has an impressive vertical approach angle with his heater and continues to miss bats. Last season, Mozzicato struck out 36.2% of hitters over 56.1 innings in Low-A Columbia. A mid-season concussion sidelined him temporarily and the results were much worse following his time on the injured list. Even still, he owned a 25.3% strikeout rate after a promotion to High-A.

Outside of Mozzicato, the only other glaring name absent from the Top 100 is outfielder Tyler Gentry. I’ve already covered Gentry plenty this week, but there’s zero reason for him to be overlooked at this point. Sure, he’s an older prospect at 24 years old. He was also drafted in 2020 amid a canceled minor league season. Without that delay, I believe Gentry would’ve made his way to the big leagues to start last season. He dominated over the second half for Omaha last season and was one of the hottest hitters in all of Triple-A over that span.

Beyond Mitchell, there’s the potential for the Royals to add another Top prospect or two to Pipeline’s list by the midseason update. Fellow 2023 draftee, Blake Wolters, has drawn high praise after his time in the Instructional League and over the course of this offseason. He has a lively fastball with a sky-high ceiling. A strong debut in Low-A Columbia could see him sneak into the back of the Pipeline Top 100 list by the time the midseason update rolls around.

Along with Wolters, Carson Roccaforte, and Trevor Werner remain names to watch early on in 2024. Roccaforte was quickly promoted to Low-A last season and hit the ground running, reaching base in his first 21 games for the Fireflies. Werner led all 2023 draftees with eight home runs at Low-A last season. Finally, don’t overlook Gavin Cross reaffirming himself as a top prospect. He debuted in 2022 with a bang, finishing the year with a 174 wRC+ for the Fireflies. 2023 was a serious struggle, especially with the strikeouts. Despite that, the power ability is very real, and Cross seems to be an adjustment away from getting right back on track.

There’s still plenty of work to do for the Royals in improving their farm system. The graduation of top prospects like Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Bobby Witt Jr., and MJ Melendez quickly deflated the ceiling left in the system. Recent drafts, like the one last year that added some serious ceiling in Mitchell and Wolters, hope to reverse that backward momentum.

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Oscar Rayo was signed by the Royals as part of their 2019 international class. He’s now 22 years old and a few years into his professional career. Rayo has spent some time both as a reliever and a starter. Toward the end of 2023, he looked to really settle into that starting role with some outstanding results. Rayo finished 2023 with 71.1 IP. Over those innings, he walked just 12 batters and allowed one home run. There wasn’t elite strikeout ability over that workload, but that sort of command and soft contact is going to carry Rayo far.

Season Stats:

Rayo has quietly put himself on the map as an intriguing young lefty in the farm system. There was strong strikeout ability early in the Dominican Summer League but it hasn’t quite translated as well to the states. With that said, the command hasn’t gone anywhere at all, and Rayo continues to move through the system. He signed as an older international prospect. Where many players sign at age 16 or 17, Rayo was 19 years old when he agreed to a deal with the Royals. For that reason, he’s still just in Low-A as a 22-year-old.

He should get a chance to test the High-A waters to start 2024. It could be in the bullpen, or in the rotation. He’s done both regularly in the minor leagues. With a strong pitch mix, he profiles well as a lefty starter. It’s a low-90s fastball alongside a curveball, slider, and changeup. Rayo reminds me some of Jesus Luzardo seven years ago pitching in high school. Luzardo, of course, could toss it into the upper 90s by the time he was drafted and that makes a strong difference.

Oscar Rayo, LHP, KC, 216.2 IP/6 H/1 ER/0 BB 3 K9 swinging strikes and 18 called strikes. FB sat 89-91 but with nice shape Beautiful CH at 82-84 CB In upper 70s

Season: 60.1 IP/3.13 ERA/1.13 WHIP/61 K/11 BB#Royals📷 pic.twitter.com/3NazNaknLT

— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) August 20, 2023

Best Case Scenario

It’s difficult to imagine Rayo becoming anything near the prospect that Luzardo became over time. The velocity simply isn’t there. Still, there’s a chance with more time and refinement that Rayo could improve his stuff enough to raise the ceiling. Right now, the path forward reminds me more of Angel Zerpa, despite the comp above. Like Zerpa, Rayo doesn’t offer overpowering stuff. Instead, he lives on great command and limits hard contact.

Worst Case Scenario

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Rayo struggle immensely in the upper minor leagues. His stuff has worked against Low-A competition but might not be as successful once he reaches Double-A and above. For that reason, the chance that Rayo falls off the radar as organizational depth in the lower minors seems just as likely as the chance he becomes a big leaguer. It’s an intriguing profile that deserves some attention, albeit with tempered expectations.

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The Royals’ offseason stove continues to stay hot! According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Royals are still pursuing one more piece… specifically a closer. That may come as a surprise as the Royals have gone out and added Chris Stratton, Nick Anderson, Will Smith, and Matt Sauer. They also have young arms like John McMillon, James McArthur, Will Klein, and others who all could be on the verge of a breakout.

But as the old saying goes… you can never have too many arms. Especially a lockdown closer to finish off those close games for you. The Royals have gone out and solidified the rotation and now seem to want one more piece to truly lock down the bullpen. So, who might be some potential options?

We’ve got to start with the most expensive piece. Williams’ name has been floated around in many trade rumors, as many people thought the Brewers planned to sell after DFA’ing Woodruff. But they’ve so far kept Corbin Burnes and went out and signed Rhys Hoskins to a 2-year deal. Could they still move Williams to get some pieces to help the big-league club? Maybe. Williams is the guy who would likely excite Royals fans the most, but seems like he’s the least likely to be moved. 

He’s been a dominant force in the backend of the bullpen for the Brewers, compiling a career 1.89 ERA with 337 strikeouts in 214 innings pitched. He’s dang near unhittable with 99th percentile Whiff% and 99th percentile K%. Watching videos of his changeup makes you realize how hard baseball is, and he has a good fastball that’s in the 100th percentile in terms of fastball extension. Williams is fun to dream of but a highly unlikely scenario for the Royals.

The Red Sox have spent much of the offseason trying to salary-dump players. Kenley Jansen seems like one of the most logical ones. The 36-year-old is expected to make $16 million this year, but he’s been a reliable source for saves for a very long time. How much (if any) of Jansen’s salary would the Royals be willing to take on? And what would the Royals need to give up in prospect capital or other players if they didn’t take on a ton of his salary?

It’s also hard to see Jansen being a fit, but for a team that just spent $105 million this offseason, they might be willing to take on a salary dump. Jansen is still in the 90th percentile in fastball extension and 73rd percentile in fastball velocity. So the stuff is still there, but I am sure the thought of taking on a 36-year-old reliever for $16 million doesn’t excite Royals fans as much, especially when you think of where that money could be spent elsewhere.

We already know the Royals have had talks with the Marlins when the rumor leaked that the Marlins asked for Vinnie Pasquantino for left-handed starter Jesus Luzardo. Could the Royals be in talks for another left-hander who was once a top prospect? AJ Puk probably isn’t considered a lockdown closer yet, given his injury history, but the 28-year-old lefty finally found some success in the Marlins bullpen last year.

Puk posted a 3.97 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 56.2 innings pitched. The strikeout stuff has always been there for Puk. His Baseball Savant page is every fan’s dream. He’s 91st percentile in expected ERA (3.06), 80th percentile in average fastball velocity, 96th percentile in fastball extension, 95th percentile in K%, and 8th percentile in Whiff%. There is a lot to like in the underlying profile that goes beyond his ERA. Puk likely wouldn’t cost as much as a Clase, so there could be a good fit here. 

If the Guardians would be willing to sell to a division rival, this would be my favorite move for the Royals. He’s guaranteed $13 million over the next three years. The Guardians are always trying to shed payroll somehow, so maybe Clase is a fit. The cost likely won’t be cheap for the Royals, though, as they’d be trying to get one of the game’s best closers, and he’s locked into a pretty team-friendly deal. 

If this deal were to get done, the return package would be a lot, and you may have more upset fans than not, even though you’re getting a star-studded closer. Clase is fun and likely has a higher probability than Williams, but still seems less likely to happen than Jansen or Puk. Regardless, it is hard to see the Royals beating many of the teams also in the market for a closer but maybe they make it happen. As of now, it is likely Will Smith will be taking the ball in the 9th.

The Kansas City Royals have a secret up their sleeve that should be anything but. Outfielder Tyler Gentry isn’t a top-100 prospect. He’s the organization’s number eight prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and he may not earn a spot in the lineup on Opening Day. The team signed Hunter Renfroe this winter and seemingly put the kibosh on that possibility. All of those things have come together to create a weird narrative around Gentry that is difficult to understand. That narrative came to a head on Wednesday when another unnamed publication released their latest Royals top prospect list. On it, they named Gentry a player with “potential to make the majors; possible sleeper candidates for sustained MLB success.” He’s tiered with other Royals prospects including Austin Charles, Carson Roccaforte, and Jared Dickey (among others). That’s a sound list of prospects.

My gripe isn’t so much the prospects he’s paired with. Although it’s clear to me that Gentry is far ahead of them (more on that soon), I think it’s a fairly sound group of prospects. No, instead I take offense to the notion that Gentry simply has “potential” to make the Major Leagues. Gentry is closer to a Top-100 prospect right now than he is to a fringe big leaguer, and it isn’t remotely close. I got so annoyed that I decided to just put this together and hopefully open more eyes to just what Gentry has done in his minor-league career thus far. He isn’t flashy. Gentry isn’t going to belt 35 home runs, steal 30 bags, or win an MVP someday (probably). Despite the lack of ceiling in any one aspect of his game, Gentry is the most well-rounded bat in the entire farm system and one of the most underrated players in the entire minor leagues today.

A look at Gentry’s résumé of work and the narrative around it

Without question, the 2023 season started slowly for Gentry. He started the year in Omaha, making his first stab at the minor league’s highest level. It was the first true slump of Gentry’s entire professional career and lasted until the mid-season mark. The slump saw Gentry slash .227/.334/.378 over 354 plate appearances. It was enough to create some questions about his prospects, I’ll admit that. Entering last season I saw Gentry as a potential late-season callup. Instead, by the All-Star Break it was worth wondering what went wrong. He wasn’t quite the same as we’d seen before.

After the All-Star Break, the outfielder all but silenced those questions. The rest of the season from July 15 on, he slashed a resounding .295/.427/.494. In that span, he walked 17.8% of the time and struck out 20.2%. He was one of the hottest hitters in all of Triple-A to end the year and the coverage around him was essentially zero. He didn’t explode in the home run department but there was plenty of loud contact and something certainly clicked. My gripes — if we can revisit those — aren’t even based on this sample of around 50 games. Although it’s a sizeable piece of the season, 50 games in the grand scheme isn’t all that large of a sample.

Instead, it’s worth looking at the résumé of work encompassing the rest of Gentry’s professional career to this point. Gentry didn’t debut until 2021 after being selected in the third round of the 2020 draft. The 2020 minor league season was, of course, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once he did arrive in 2021, Gentry posted a respectable .844 OPS for High-A Quad Cities. Then in 2022, he exploded. Gentry was the Royals’ 2022 George Brett Hitter of the Year Award winner. The award is given the the organization’s best minor league hitter each season. He more than deserved it, after slashing .326/.422/.542 over 108 games between High-A and Double-A.

Gentry had 44 extra-base hits that season with 60 walks. It was a fantastic showing that put Gentry firmly on the map — or so we thought. Then the foretold slump happened to start last season and we’re back to square one debating if Gentry is even a true major-league prospect. What does his entire minor league career look like with that slump removed? If you remove last season’s early season slump (which matters, don’t get me wrong), the results are fantastic.

Without the first half of 2023, Gentry has compiled 887 plate appearances. Gentry slashed .305/.418/.512 over that span. The walk rate over that workload is a healthy 14.4% and he’s limited the strikeouts to an average mark of 23.0%. Some home run power showed up, anchored most by his mark of 22 in 2022. In all, he has 35 over the span mentioned above. Those results are fantastic. If you plug the above slash line and walk rate into a data filter of all minor leaguers since 2006, just two hitters have performed that well over their MiLB career (min. 800 plate appearances): Brandon Belt and Alex Gordon. Gordon, of course, was the best prospect in baseball at third base before moving to left field. Over his minor league career, the results were extremely close to what we’ve seen from Tyler Gentry.

Let’s get one thing clear: I’m not calling Tyler Gentry the best prospect in baseball. He isn’t even my top Royals prospect (although those rankings are tied a lot more to the ceiling than what a player is right now). He isn’t going to be the next Alex Gordon, he’s going to be the first Tyler Gentry. With all that clarified, the point at hand should be exceedingly clear. Gentry is nowhere close to a fringe major leaguer. He’s a true prospect that deserves much more respect than he’s been given. Don’t discount him forcing the issue in Spring Training and don’t be surprised if he’s the Royals regular left fielder by the end of 2024. He’s a bonafide top prospect and it’s time to make the narrative reflect that.

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On Wednesday the Kansas City Royals released their full list of coaches for the upcoming Minor League season. Many of the faces will be familiar names. Managers Mike Jirschele (AAA), Tommy Shields (AA), and Brooks Conrad (A+) will all return as skippers once again for their respective affiliates. Jirschele has been with the Royals for some time and 2024 will be his 33rd season with the organization. Jesus Azuaje will take the helm in Columbia as their new Manager. Last year’s Fireflies Manager, Tony Pena Jr., has transitioned to a new role as Minor League Infield Coordinator.

You can see the full list of each affiliate’s coaching staff in the tweet below from Royals Player Development.

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) January 24, 2024

A couple of newcomers will be joining the organization as well. Sam Eades, formerly of Tread Athletics, has joined the organization as a minor league pitching coach. He will be the Assistant Pitching Coach for the Naturals, working under Larry Carter. Tread, most notably, worked with Cole Ragans last offseason ahead of his breakout 2024 season. A handful of other Royals have also found their way to Tread. The list includes some former Royals — Jonathan Heasley and Dylan Coleman — as well as some current Royals, such as Christian Chamberlain.

That move toward analytics and data has helped the Royals’ pitching development greatly. New Senior Director of Pitching Performance, Paul Gibson, took the helm in 2021. Since taking over his new role there has been a true renaissance in the farm system and pitching development has started to move light years ahead of where it once was. The addition of data and analytics, signaled by Tread’s footprint on the organization, is just another sign of where that success is going next.

Among the list of coaches for 2024, there are a few other newcomers as well. Tripp Keister will serve as Omaha’s Assistant Coach. As a player, he spent time in the Mets farm system but more recently served as a minor league coach in the Naturals organization. Chris Corbett will serve as the assistant hitting Coach in Quad Cities. Most recently he pitched in the Giants organization and was a coach at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Chad Gravenorst will be the strength and conditioning coach in Quad Cities this season. He’s a registered biokineticist and spent time working at the Sports Science Institute in South Africa.

Sam Freeman and Kyle MacKinnon round out the new additions. Freeman will be an assistant pitching coach in Columbia. He’s a former Kansas Jayhawk and pitched in the Royals farm system back in 2021. MacKinnon will serve as assistant hitting coach and spent last season in a similar role with the Diamondbacks.

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🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Major League Baseball is coming to Northwest Arkansas in March as the #NWANaturals will host the Kansas City Royals in an exhibition game at Arvest Ballpark on Monday, March 25th. The event is presented by @RedVines & @SourPunchCandy.

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John McMillon signed as an undrafted free agent with the Royals after the shortened 2020 MLB Draft. His rise through the system since then took some time, but once he took off, McMillon flew through the minor leagues. It’s difficult to state just how dominant McMillon was throughout the 2023 MLB season. He compiled 91 […]

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The Royals have been very active this offseason, but there are a couple more moves that they are looking to make.

Here are the latest happenings in Royals news from last week!

KC: Chase the Pennant and Farm to Fountains is back at it yet again with another incredible Royals interview. Cristian and Kev sit down with Royals outfield prospect Javier Vaz this time! You can catch the full interview on YouTube and Spotify. 

ICYMI: Farm to Fountains now has merch! Get all your favorite gear with the Farm to Fountains logo at our shop! 

The Royals sign four of Baseball America’s top 100 international prospects: “The class is headlined by Cuban shortstop Yandel Ricardo. He’s the top prospect out of Cuba, and according to Baseball America, he blends “good size, athleticism, and hitting ability for both sides of the plate.” According to Joe Doyle of Future Stars Series, Ricardo is ranked the second-best international prospect among MLB scouting directors.”

The Royals sign catcher Sandy Leon to a minor league deal: “The Royals announced they have signed veteran catcher Sandy León to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. The 34-year-old León is a 12-year MLB veteran with the Nationals, Red Sox, Guardians, Marlins, Twins, and he spent last year with the Rangers. Known primarily for his defense, León is a career .208/.276/.311 hitter in 554 games.”

Anne Rogers sat down with Daniel Lynch IV to discuss his time in the Dominican Winter League: “Put a new perspective on it and looked at it as a really cool opportunity,” Lynch said. “And it turned out to be just that. A really neat experience. It was like baseball I’ve never played before.”

Kyle Jones discusses the best-case scenario for the 2024 Royals: “The 16th-best team in the league won 82 games in 2023, and I think that is probably about close to the ceiling for the 2024 Royals. The Twins won the division in 2023 with 87 wins, with the Tigers finishing second with just 78 wins. If the Royals hit their ceiling, they should be in the AL Central race well into September.”

Kevin O’Brien takes a look at the potential of Nelson Velazquez: “In my own post on X, Royals Weekly and I went back and forth on Velazquez’s outlook, with Royals Weekly arguing that his batted ball skills would facilitate a breakout. I didn’t disagree, but I also felt Velazquez’s contact issues could be a problem and it makes me cautious with him in 2024, especially since he has less than 400 PA under his belt.”

Preston Farr looks at the prospects you’re likely too low on: “He’s a sure thing to stick in center long-term and great defense gives him a rather high floor. He’s still somewhat young for a college product, similar to Cayden Wallace who was drafted in 2022. Roccaforte is a sleeper prospect who could quickly rise up prospect rankings if he shows up as I expect.”

Preston Farr lays out his 2024 All-Prospect Team: “Another fun exercise I like to do before each season is settling on a personal “All-Prospect” Team. This time, I’m looking at my favorite prospect at each position. Last season I hit on some and missed on a few others.”

Kevin O’Brien takes a look at four under-the-radar Royals prospects: “Despite these concerns, in terms of pure upside and ceiling, Figueroa may be one of the Royals’ most intriguing prospects to watch in 2024 and he could jump into the Top 30 of most Royals prospect lists by midseason, much like Austin Charles a year ago.”

Raul Ibanez Joins the Dodgers Front Office as Vice President of Baseball Development

The Dodgers signed RHP Jesse Hahn to a minor-league deal

Joe Barlow signs a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox

Hunter Dozier signs a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels

Josh Hader signs a $95 million deal with the Houston Astros

Robert Stephenson signs a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels

The Dodgers trade Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs Jackson Ferris and Zhyir Hope

Dusty Baker joins the San Francisco Giants as a Senior Advisor to Baseball Operations

Matt Carpenter signs a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals