Minor League

Hey it's Jake here to talk some baseball. On today's agenda it's all about Royal prospects. Yes the Royals are 3-0. Go Royals! But when you a mid market team with limited finances you have to draft and develop players.

Here is the Royals top 1o prospects according to BA(Baseball America)

1.Mike Moustakas, ss
2.Daniel Cortes, rhp
3.Luke Hochevar, rhp
4.Blake Wood, rhp
5.Danny Duffy, lhp
6.Carlos Rosa, rhp
7.Julio Pimentel, rhp
8.Matt Mitchell, rhp
9.Yasuhiko Yabuta, rhp
10.Derrick Robinson, of

Interesting mix there with lots of quality arms. Daniel Cortes is the guy in the top 10 that I really like. If you notice he rates higher then 1st pick Luke Hochevar. Both are big guys, Cortex 6-6, Luke 6-5. Cortes has the better pitchers body at 225 lbs compared to 205. The big difference in them really is stuff and age. Cortes is 21 now compared to Luke who is 25 in Sept. Cortes also have a live FB that scouts rate is a 70 on the 20-80 scale. Cortes fast ball sits 93-96 while Luke's is 92-93. Both have good curve ball. Cortes only pitched 123 innings this last year for High A Wilmington. Look to see him start the season at AA and with an innings limit. Probably no more then 150 innings. If Cortes also does well this season look for him to hit AAA to get more experience against better talent. If Cortes can have a 3.07 era this season pitching 150 innings he would be in line to land a 5th spot in the Royals rotation next season.

Another guy I would like to watch this season is Matt Mitchell. Pitched well in 55 innings last year with a 1.80 era. That was in the Rookie league. BA is calling him the steal of the 07 draft. Look to see him pitch for low A this season and hopefully get up to 90 innings. At 19 years of age the guy won't be sniffing the big leagues for some time.

What I find interesting about the Royals system is how many guys in the top 30 that Dayton Moore drafted. I'm going to exclude Yasuhiko Yabuta since he is the Japanese pitcher that they signed. 11 players out of 29 were drafted by Moore. 2 more were traded for by Moore. In a few months I will take a look at the baseball draft and give a preview of who I think the Royals will take with their pick.