Witt Jr., Kowar and Pratto among Kansas City Royals’ minor-league award winners
The Kansas City Royals announced the winners of their annual organizational awards and handed out the honors on Thursday morning, recognizing the accomplishments and performance of their farm system players in 2021.
The ceremony recognizing the award recipients took place at the club’s spring training facility.
Two Royals minor-league affiliate teams were also honored for having won their league championships in 2021, the Double-A Central champion Northwest Arkansas Naturals and High-A Central champion Quad Cities River Bandits.
Last summer, the Royals announced the recipients of the 2021 George Brett Award, Bobby Witt Jr., and Paul Splittorff Award, Jackson Kowar, as their minor-league hitter and pitcher of the year.
First baseman Nick Pratto won the Frank White Award as the organization’s top defensive player. Pratto, 23, won a Minor League Baseball Gold Glove last season as the top defensive player at his position at any level across the minors. This marked Pratto’s second time winning the Frank White Award. He also did so in 2018.
Tyler Tolbert was the recipient of the Willie Wilson Award, which recognizes the top baserunner in the organization. Tolbert, 24, spent time last season at the Arizona League (three games), Low-A Columbia (80 games) and High-A Quad Cities (six games). He recorded 55 stolen bases, which ranked fourth among all minor-league players, and the most among all Royals minor leaguers. He was caught stealing only twice.
Vinnie Pasquantino received the Mike Sweeney Award as the player who best represents the organization on and off the field. Pasquantino, 24, was named the Quad Cities Player of the Year, after hitting a combined .300/.394/.563 (131-for-437) between Advanced-A Quad Cities and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He finished the season tied for second among all minor leaguers in doubles (37), sixth in extra-base hits (64) and 11th in total bases (246), and garnered High-A Central postseason All-Star honors at first base.
Royals manager of pitching performance Mitch Stetter received the Dick Howser Award, which recognizes a player development employee for outstanding contributions to the organization. Stetter previously spent four seasons as the pitching coach for Low-A Lexington after having held the same position with the Rookie level affiliate in Surprise in 2015.
Dave Heller received the Matt Minker Award, which recognizes an outstanding minor league affiliate employee. Heller is the President and CEO of Main Street Baseball, LLC, and the majority owner and Managing Partner of the Quad Cities River Bandits.
Keith Connolly received the Art Stewart Award as the organization’s most outstanding scout. Connolly, who joined the club in 2011 after serving as an area scout for the Baltimore Orioles and part-time scout for the Florida Marlins, spent parts of four minor-league seasons as a right-handed relief pitcher in the San Francisco Giants organization.
Adrian Alcantara received the Carlos Fortuna Award, which recognizes a player who is dedicated to improving his English, work ethic and conduct. Alcantara, 22, appeared in 24 games (20 starts) for Class-A Columbia, and he led the team with 98 strikeouts in a team-high 96 1/3 innings. He signed as an international free agent in 2017.
In addition to the seven individual organization awards, MJ Melendez was also presented with the 2021 Joe Bauman Award, which is awarded annually to Minor League Baseball’s home run king. Melendez led Minor League Baseball with 41 homers last season between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. He became the third Royals minor leaguer to win the award, which was first presented in 2002. He joined Chris Brazell (2007) and Mike Moustakas (2010).
