Hot on the heels of the Royals' dominance on the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list, Kevin Goldstein's Top 101 list (subscription required, and you should subscribe) at Baseball Prospectus. Where the Royals placed nine prospects on Baseball America's Top 100 list, they have placed ten on the Baseball Prospectus list. A quick rundown shows the Royals charting as follows:
7. Mike Moustakas
11. John Lamb
12. Eric Hosmer
13. Wil Myers
21. Mike Montgomery
66. Chris Dwyer
67. Danny Duffy
76. Jeremy Jeffress
77. Jake Odorizzi
88. Christian Colon
If you were following closely and waited for this list's release with baited breath, then you already knew there were ten Royals on the list. Knowing where they fall is a different story. Not only are there five in the top 21, but there are four before 13 hits.
Sweet Jesus.
I know we need to temper our expectations, but goddamn it feels good to have a ray of hope.
For those not keeping track at home, Baseball America charted the Royals' top prospects like so:
8. Eric Hosmer
9. Mike Moustakas
10. Wil Myers
18. Mike Montgomery
19. John Lamb
51. Christian Colon
68. Danny Duffy
69. Jake Odorizzi
83. Chris Dwyer
Obviously, we would be foolish to assume that the future is entirely contained within this list of prospects. The likelihood of the starting lineup in 2014 being
C - Salvador Perez
1B - Eric Hosmer
2B - Christian Colon
SS - Alcides Escobar
3B - Mike Moustakas
LF - Brett Eibner
CF - Lorenzo Cain
RF - Wil Myers
DH - Billy Butler
SP - Mike Montgomery
SP - John Lamb
SP - Danny Duffy
SP - Jake Odorizzi
SP - Chris Dwyer
CL - Joakim Soria
is nice in theory, but realistically some grounding needs to take place. I could finish off the 2014 25-man roster that I think we're all penciling in in our imaginations with homegrown products like Johnny Giavotella, Jarrod Dyson, Jeff Bianchi, Tim Collins, etc., but optimism and realism are two different things, and the last 17 years should have beaten any optimism out of just about all of us.
That isn't to say dreaming of that line-up isn't fun. There is also cause to believe that from the non-list-makers, players like Eibner, Dyson, Collins, Cheslor Cuthbert, Yordano Ventura, Robinson Yambati, and Jason Adam could make future lists or contribute at a meaningful level without ever having made the list. There are also guys who have lost a bit of their sheen like Aaron Crow and Tim Melville--who seemed to be the only Royals youngsters who struggled last season-- that could turn things around now or in the near future.
Now, if Dayton Moore could only begin to competently evaluate veteran talent, we could call the engravers and place our bets in Vegas.
Oh, by the way, I'd like to thank Ray W at Royals on the Radio, Etc. for linking to my bullying post and also Michael Engel at Kings of Kauffman, Corey Ettinger at AL Central In Focus, and Will McDonald at Royals Review (and anyone else I may have missed) for linking up to my last entry (Equating Your Royals To A Character In The Wire: The Joakim Soria Edition). Engel and McDonald are well established entities in the realm of the Royals blogosphere, but Ettinger's work on the Central (Royals-specific info can be found here) should definitely be read. His scouting reports are outstanding, and the volume of work he gets done in the course of a day is often stunning. Any such treatment is much appreciated and coming from those sites serves as validation. As far as that series is concerned, I intend for the next entry to be the second installment in the series, but that can't be what this site becomes entirely.
0 comments:
Post a Comment