Which Royals’ minor-leaguers are close to helping the big-league lineup?
The offensive struggles were myriad and pronounced for top-rated hitters in the Kansas City Royals’ minor-league system last year.
Baseball America ranked catcher M.J. Melendez, first baseman Nick Pratto, outfielder Seuly Matias and outfielder Kyle Isbel among the Royals’ top 10 prospects going into 2019. Three of the four went hit worse than .200 and all four were below .230.
The term “atrocious” rolled off the lips of general manager Dayton Moore in July when speaking with reporters about the lack of production among some of the highly touted Single-A prospects.
This spring and summer should’ve brought a slate full of minor-league games and provided opportunities for re-calibration, refinement and redemption. Without an organized season playing in competitive games, it stands to reason those players would be in danger of backward steps in their development.
A small-market club like the Royals can’t endure regression without far-reaching ramifications. That’s something that assistant general manager/player performance J.J. Picollo thinks the Royals have avoided thanks to work done daily at the alternate training site during the season and the ongoing fall camps.
“The guys that were at the alternate site, we’re looking at it like it was a season,” Picollo said. “They didn’t quite get 500 at-bats. They’re going to end up with about 250 at-bats, so it’s not quite a full season. But because of the type of pitching they were facing and the quality of pitching they were facing, for a lot of guys it was beyond the levels they’ve played at in the past.
“It gives us a pretty good indication that they’re ready to jump a level. I’m not ready to say that guys are ready to jump two levels. I think that will take care of itself in time. I think there was definitely improvement, progress, and we got a lot of individual time that you don’t normally get during the season.”
Instead of having bounce-back seasons in the minors, the young hitters made adjustments and improved in relative anonymity with no official record after a year in which apparent regressions were well documented.
By most assessments, the Royals enjoy an abundance of pitching riches in their minor-league coffers, but one of the criticisms in recent years of the Royals has been the dearth of impact offensive performers produced by the farm system.
The 2020 MLB season underscored the Royals’ need for productive, young players capable of being regular contributors in the majors.
Royals director of hitting performance/player development Alec Zumwalt expressed optimism that the work put in by the minor-league hitting coaches — led by hitting coordinator Drew Saylor and assistant hitting coordinator Keoni DeRenne — in weekly calls and webinars will ultimately prove fruitful.
“Ultimately, we might have gained an advantage in that time that we wouldn’t have had during the year because during the year they would be trying to compete every night and play a game,” Zumwalt said.
Getting hands-on work with those players in Kauffman Stadium, one of the largest ballparks in the majors, also has only helped convey the messages and sharpen focus.
”We talk all the time about how big Kauffman plays. Those first couple times of BP, I think some guys got really humbled,” Zumwalt said. “To me that might be an underlying win because, now, when we preach this, they’ve lived it. They’ve been there. They’ve seen it. They realize.”
Picollo and Zumwalt provided insight into the progression of some of the organization’s top prospects and those minor-league players who’ve made the biggest improvements this summer:
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Kyle Isbel
Isbel, a left-handed hitting outfielder and third-round draft pick in 2018, impressed with his defense and athleticism in spring training in Arizona. He made more than one jaw-dropping catch in Arizona, and he continued to impress with his play in the field at the alternate site.
Isbel, 23, got off to a fast start in Wilmington in 2019 and posted a slash line of .348/.423/.630 through his first 13 games. However, hamstring and hamate injuries derailed his season and he finished the year batting .216. He went on to rebound in the Arizona Fall League where he slashed .315/.429/.438.
Zumwalt described Isbel as “having picked up where he left off” with his performance this summer in the alternate site.
Khalil Lee
A 2016 third-round pick out of high school in Virginia, Lee likely would have made his Triple-A debut this year. He went to big-league spring training camp for the first time in February, and he has added both bulk and speed in recent years. Another left-handed hitting outfielder, Lee stole 53 bases and boasted a .735 OPS in 2019 to earn the organization’s minor league Player of the Year award.
The one area that stood out as potentially alarming in Lee’s offensive production was his strikeout rate (28.2 percent). Three big things the Royals have tracked during at-bats in alternate site were chase rate, swing-and-miss rate and hard-hit percentages. Lee’s chase and swing-and-miss improved while his hard-hit percentages went up, according to Zumwalt.
Lee is also viewed as a player who thrives on emotion and whose level of play rises in a competitive environment.
Seuly Matias
An international signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, the right-handed hitting outfielder Matias draws comparison to Jorge Soler in his physical stature and his prodigious power. Matias blasted 31 home runs in Low-A Lexington in 2018 as a 19-year-old.
Last season, Matias struggled in Wilmington and batted .148 in 57 games. However, he was playing through a broken hand that eventually ended his season. The Royals made adjustments to his stance and hand positioning last fall in hopes of helping him create more consistent contact — he also struck out 131 times in his 31-homer season in 2018.
Matias’ summer featured multiple interruptions with an oblique injury at the end of summer camp, a trip home for the birth of his daughter and a hamstring issue, but for the last two months he’s been healthy and making consistent strides.
Recent results have caught the attention of the Royals player development staff with Matias, 22, taking higher quality at-bats, including better discipline and not chasing pitches out of the strike zone as frequently as he had in the past.
M.J. Melendez
A second-round draft pick out of high school in 2017, Melendez established himself as an intriguing catching prospect with potential to excel defensively as well as with the bat. A South Atlantic League mid-season All-Star in 2018, he hit 19 home runs. Baseball American has also rated him the best defensive catcher in the Royals’ farm system. He also won the organization’s Defensive Player of the Year for 2019.
Last season, his offensive production fell off badly as he batted .163 with a .260 on-base percentage and a .311 slugging percentage at High-A Wilmington in 2019. Melendez made changes to his stance to help him see the ball better, and he showed at the alternate site an ability to stay within himself and trust that he can make consistently hard contact without overswinging to generate power.
Melendez went to big-league spring training for the second consecutive year, and he also spent the summer in Kansas City as part of the 60-player pool and at the alternate site. He turns 22 next month.
Nick Pratto
Pratto, a left-handed hitting first baseman and 14th overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft out of high school, slashed .191/.278/.310 for High-A Wilmington in 2019. He just recently turned 22.
“The guy that really has clearly gotten better is Nick Pratto,” Picollo said. “I think last year was a little bit of an aberration anyway. I don’t think that was indicative of who he is, but hitters go through things like that.”
He flashed a good glove at first and made several picks out of the dirt during spring training 2.0 intrasqaud scrimmages. He has hit the ball with authority to all fields during his time at the alternate site, and continued to show impressive aptitude for pitch recognition.
“He has made tremendous strides,” Picollo said. “We thought he was a good hitter before. We think he’s an even better hitter now.”
Sebastian Rivero
An international signing out of Venezuela in 2015, Rivero has been viewed as a defense-first catching prospect. Like Melendez, he earned mid-season All-Star honors in the South Atlantic League in 2018. Last season, he slashed .212/.270/.278.
An non-roster invitee to big league camp for the second consecutive spring training, he was also part of the 60-player pool and one of the catchers at the alternate site this summer. His physical maturity and strength has been noticeable this year and has translated into him driving the ball in ways he hadn’t previously. He’ll turn 22 next month.
Bobby Witt Jr.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, Witt went from high school star to the top prospect in the Royals’ system. A right-handed hitting shortstop projected to have above average speed and power as well as standout defensive ability, Baseball America ranks him among the top 100 prospects in the game (No. 21 in the last update).
Witt has still played in just 37 minor-league games, and all of those came at the Rookie League level. Though he has impressed in spring training 2.0 as well as the alternate site. He drew rave reviews from Picollo earlier this summer for his advanced approach at the plate for a player who turned 20 in June, and he combines that with relatively-simple mechanics.
A lot of focus this summer with Witt has been on mental aspects such as game planning, preparation for facing different types of pitchers, learning to adjust to their “stuff” and how it plays in the zone. The primary concern has been to get him live at-bats and the repetitions necessary for him to gain the experience and make those adjustments. He likely would’ve started this season at Single-A.
“He does things that most people can’t even dream of, and his explanation of why he does things is just — he’s gifted,” Zumwalt said. “He’s so gifted. I’ve never seen a hitter as gifted as he is.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 8:41 AM.
