No MLB franchise’s minor-league teams won more 2021 titles than the Kansas City Royals
With one win in their final five games, the Royals will avoid a 90-loss season, and they already are assured of having their best winning percentage since 2017.
While they’ll miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season, the Royals appear to be trending in the right direction. And the franchise has seen success in the minor leagues this year.
Northwest Arkansas swept a best-of-five series against Wichita and won the Double-A Central Championship. It was the Naturals’ first title since winning the Texas League crown in 2010. That team included Mike Moustakas, Jarrod Dyson and Eric Hosmer.
Also winning a title were the Quad Cities River Bandits, who were in their first season as a Royals affiliate. The River Bandits defeated Cedar Rapids 5-0 in the decisive fifth game of the High-A Central championship series. Quad Cities had an incredible 77-41 regular-season record, winning the division by a whopping 11 games.
With two minor-league championships, the Royals matched the Giants and Rays for the most among Major League Baseball franchises this season.
The Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers wrap up their season this weekend, which means three players will have a chance to pad their already prodigious stats.
M.J. Melendez, Nick Pratto, Bobby Witt Jr., and Ryan McBroom are all among the top five in most home runs hit in the minor leagues this season.
Witt was named the Prospect of the Year by the Athletic’s Keith Law.
This is part of what he wrote about Witt: “The second pick in 2019, Witt has already answered a lot of the questions surrounding him in high school — notably how he’d fare against a consistent stream of better pitching his own age, since the competition he faced as an amateur was not great. ... The future in Kansas City is extremely bright.”
Melendez was listed on others of note. Here is a snippet of what Law wrote about Melendez: “The Royals’ current catcher has had a hell of a season, but that position should be Melendez’s in the very near future.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 11:42 AM.
