Bobby Witt Jr. leads group of four Royals prospects ranked among baseball’s Top 100
The praise and postulating for Bobby Witt Jr.’s potential continued into the new year. The Kansas City Royals’ top prospect and former first-round draft pick, Witt joined three other Royals minor league players among Baseball America’s latest rankings of the Top 100 prospects.
Witt, a shortstop drafted out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas, ranked No. 16 on the Baseball America list. Joining him among the Top 100 were a trio of pitching prospects led by left-hander Daniel Lynch (No. 25), left-handed pitcher and 2020 first-round draft pick Asa Lacy (No. 37) and right-handed pitcher Jackson Kowar (No. 95).
Witt, who will turn 21 in June, also garnered mention among Baseball America’s “Toolsiest MLB Prospects” among the Top 100.
Witt and New York Yankees minor-league outfielder Jasson Dominguez were the only two prospects graded as 60 or better in each of nine categories. On the scouting scale, which runs from 20 to 80, a 50 grade equates to average and 60 is a “plus” grade.
Witt, drafted in 2019, spent his first professional season at the Rookie level of the minors and played in 37 games.
Last year, he participated in major-league spring training 2.0 at Kauffman Stadium. He also spent the summer training at the team’s alternate training site in Kansas City, Kansas.
Evaluators expect Witt to move quickly through the farm system. Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo, who oversees player development, told The Star in August that Witt had been getting work at both shortstop and third base to create more options to get him on the field as he gets closer to the big leagues.
Lynch, 24, ranked 36th on the same list in 2020. A first-round draft pick in the same 2018 class as right-handed pitcher Brady Singer and left-hander Kris Bubic, Lynch pitched for High-A Wilmington in 2019.
Lynch earned a non-roster invitation to big-league camp last February, and he also participated in spring training 2.0 as well as the alternate site. Singer and Bubic made their MLB debuts in 2020.
Despite not having a minor-league season last summer, Royals officials maintain that Lynch made significant strides.
Lacy, drafted fourth-overall out of Texas A&M in 2020, has been described as a potential front of the rotation starting pitcher in the majors. He came off a pandemic-shortened college season.
After signing with the club, Lacy trained with the Royals player development staff in Kansas City late this summer, but an eye ailment and subsequent procedure interrupted his throwing progression briefly.
Kowar, like Lynch, entered the organization as a first-round pick in 2018. Kowar ranked 76th in the 2020 Top 100. He reached Double-A in the 2019 season.
Kowar, 24, participated in both big-league spring training camp in Arizona and spring training 2.0 in Kansas City last year. Kowar, who features a devastating changeup, made big improvement with his curveball in the past year, according to director of pitching performance Paul Gibson.
