Year Two of the Matt Quatraro tenure. Time to take a step up this year. Active in free agency and trades this offseason. A new look pitching rotation and bullpen. Will the young players take the leap up offensively? Bobby Witt extension? New stadium? Will Vinny recover from injury? Salvy taking aim at the Royals record book? Will Cole Ragans turn into the best Royals starting pitcher since Greinke 1.0?
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Seth Lugo, SP
Michael Wacha, SP
Kyle Wright, SP
Hunter Renfroe, OF/DH
Will Smith, RP
Chris Stratton, RP
Nick Anderson, RP
Adam Frazier, 2B
Garrett Hampson, INF/OF
Matt Sauer, RP [Reply]
Shields is the type of prospect the Royals have taken a lot but rarely been able to do much with. He’s a projectable HS arm. Hopefully the new folks in charge of minor league development can get more out of him.
He already has a usable sweeper and changeup, so it’s more a matter of helping him mature and add velocity. They have done that with some success.
It’s a popular pick, though.
Pretty good Day 1, even with having one fewer pick during it than projected.
I’ve also seen Law talk about the weakness of this draft/lack of depth. Probably has something to do with the royals willingness to part with the comp pick … [Reply]
1. First off, Caglianone is pronounced Cag-lee-own (the ian is basically silent)
2. Every ranking I found had him in the top five overall prospects and he was top 3 in most of them and 2 of them had him at #1 overall.
3. He’s 6’5” 250 lbs w/ sz 19 shoes
4. Some descriptions of him: “a big personality, face of the franchise type” “a guy who’s going to sell tons of jerseys” “left handed Aaron Judge” “most comparable to Bryce Harper”
5. He said in an interview that the Royals are going to let him pitch. The talking heads said this would slow his path to the majors and that while he’s a pretty solid pitcher, it’s not why he was a high draft pick.
6. The main knock on him is that his chase rate is too high, however, he brought it way down this past season.
7. Can hit 100mph on his fastball, but velocity hovered at 95-97 late in the year. [Reply]
Fun fact: I played 10/20 No Limit Texas Holdem in Tampa with Jac Caglianone's dad. I just now figured it out. He was telling me that his son played baseball at the University of Florida and had just set the single season Florida record for home runs. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
By Nicholas Badders
June 18, 2024
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PAPILLION, NEB. – With a 9-4 win over the Louisville Bats Tuesday at Werner Park, the Omaha Storm Chasers have clinched a postseason berth and home field advantage in the International League Championship Series, the team’s first trip to the playoffs in 10 years. As the International League’s first half winners, the Storm Chasers will host a best-of-three LCS, slated to begin on Tuesday, September 24 at Werner Park. This will be the 18th postseason trip in franchise history, dating back to the club’s inception in 1969 as the Omaha Royals.
Tickets for Games 1 and 2 of the International League Championship Series, September 24 and 25, will go on sale THIS FRIDAY at 10am.
In 2024, Minor League baseball is playing a “split schedule” where both Triple-A leagues are split into two halves, with the first half concluding on June 23, the second half commencing on June 25 and the regular season ending on September 22. Omaha’s 9-4 victory over the Louisville Bats on Tuesday, June 18, was the team’s sixth straight win, to move to a 6.0-game lead over the second-place Syracuse Mets with five games remaining in the first half.
All of the possible three League Championship Series games will be held at Werner Park, with 6:35 p.m. CT start times each night. Should Omaha win the best-of-three International League Championship Series against the league’s second half champion, the Storm Chasers would advance to the Triple-A Triple Championship Game at Las Vegas Ballpark on Saturday, September 28. LINK TO 2024 MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFF PROCEDURES.
Currently the best team in Minor League Baseball, with a 47-20 record (.701 winning percentage), the Storm Chasers have led all Minor League teams in wins since May 30, while the Chasers have held sole possession of first place in the 20-team International League for 31 days, since May 19. With a 14-11 record over the first 25 games of the season, Omaha has gone 33-9 over its last 42 games (.786 winning percentage), the best team in professional baseball since May 1, ahead of the New York Yankees (31-12, .721 winning percentage).
Omaha’s +89 run differential leads the International League, while ranking fifth in Minor League Baseball. The Storm Chasers have won 17 one-run games in 2024, more than any other Major or Minor League team, while 26 of the team’s 47 wins have been comeback wins (games where they trailed at any point and came back to win), a whopping 55%.
Storm Chasers are playing well, for an MLB team with pretty lackluster grades for minor league talent [Reply]
imagine being fans of the white sox or a's, who not only suck but aren't managing the team well enough to even be eligible for the draft lottery next year
Third round: pick 76:
Drew Beam, RHP, Tennessee
No. 64 in MLB.com
Originally Posted by :
Beam helped Tennessee win its first College World Series using largely average stuff across the board with a fastball that sits 93-95 mph, a low-80s curve with depth and a solid cutter. He throws all for strikes and gets a lot of ground-ball contact.
And from Keith Law:
Originally Posted by :
Beam is a four-pitch command right-hander with nothing plus but who throws a ton of strikes and can be effective as long as he has all of his pitches — I saw him struggle against Georgia because his changeup was much too firm that night. He’s 92-95 with his four-seamer and pounds the zone with it, and because it rides up it plays off the changeup and vice versa. He’s got an average curveball and a 55 cutter that may end up his best pitch in the long run, although in the postseason he largely ditched it and went heavy on the fastball/curve. He’s also got a little more room to fill out and could find another gear of velocity on the four-seamer and the cutter. Because he’s not very physical right now, I was concerned about him wearing down, but Tennessee used him much more carefully in Omaha, taking him out twice when he was pitching well and had thrown just 70-80 pitches. He’s a back-end starter type with a modest chance for something more.
Kind of interesting we are now apparently taking nothing but college pitchers. I guess if they think it's a weak draft they might as well get some relievers at worst? [Reply]
Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ:
Kind of interesting we are now apparently taking nothing but college pitchers. I guess if they think it's a weak draft they might as well get some relievers at worst?
