Scouring through the Royals' farm system, it seems all those years of high draft picks seem to be catching up. It looks like the system is about two years from really cashing in.
In the majors, you've got 24-year-old Billy Butler (1B/DH) who is a solid hitter with adequate power and you've got Alex Gordon over at third who raked in AAA, and perhaps this second time around can get things in gear and break out at 26.
Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria are filthy, though it's hard to say how long they will be around. It's a good bet Greinke will be gone within two years.
In AAA, they have 3B Mike Moustakas who has struggled in limited time thus far, but was a monster in AA -- .347-21-76-.413/.687/1.100 -- and not yet 22-years-old.
Then, there's my favorite 1B in all of baseball: Kila Ka'aihue. He's having another 1.000 OPS plus season with 21 homers and 69 RBIs.
Down in AA is just as rich. 1B Eric Hosmer (20) is OPS'ing over a combined 1.000 this year in two stops. He's batting over .340 and has more walks than K's. If they weren't deep enough at the position, Clint Robinson (25) is adding a .312-18-66 line with a slash line 391 / 579 / 970.
They've got Aaron Crow down there too. He's struggling with his control, but he's getting an otherworldly 3 groundballs to every flyball. And then there's, arguably, the creme of their crop - LHP Mike Montgomery, who has 62 strikeouts to 14 walks thus far in 12 starts.
Throw in 19-year-old catcher Wil Myers, who is raking and they're really high on; 2010 first-round-pick Christian Colon at SS; and LHP Chris Dwyer (22).
Really a very exciting system they've got right now. It would be cool to see all or most of these guys break in within a year or so of one another.
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Originally Posted by AWA85
