Royals in the Fall/organizational C assessment

EDITED TO ADD KC STATS

It's been nice to have a break....oddly I haven't been greatly inspired, or at least had the energy, to post in a while, especially since many other topics are interesting to me. Fantasy football, movies, music, books, etc. (God, I sound like an Overstock.com commercial) I wanted this to be not just a Royals blog but that sure looks like what it's pretty much ended up being. Anyway, with that said....

Royals position prospects LF Billy Butler, C Mathew Tupman and 1B Justin Huber joined organizational P prospects Brian Bass, Chris Demaria and Jonah Bayliss on the Arizona Fall League's Surprise Scorpions and it looks like they're on the team to beat:

Tuesday, Oct. 4 (opening day)
Surprise 14, Peoria 2
Bayliss 1 2/3 IP in relief, 1 hit, 1K
Butler 0-5
Tupman 1-3, RBI
Huber DNP

Wednesday
Surprise 11, Peoria 6
Butler DH'ed -- 4-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 RS
Tupman 0-1
Huber DNP
All 3 pitchers DNP

Angels top prospects 1B Kendry Morales, 2B Howie Kendrick, SS Brandon Wood and P Jered Weaver are also on the team, so it could be a juggernaut on offense. Just the pitching needs to hold up.

I also thought I'd start a position-by-position assessment of the Royals organization, starting with C:

stats -- games, AB, BA/OBP/SLG, HR, RBI, BB, K, E

KC

John Buck 118 G, 401 AB, .242/.287/.389, 12 HR, 47 RBI, 23 BB, 94 K, 3 E, 3 PB, 60/91 SB
Paul Phillips 23 G, 67 AB, .269/.269/.403, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 E, 2 PB, 4/11 SB
Alberto Castillo -- bad, just trust me

*** Buck had his moments but overall was bad in '05. He can't even get on base at a .300 clip. Walk/K ratio is bad, runners had pretty good luck on his arm as only 31 were caught in 91 chances. Phillips was better at catching runners but also didn't take a walk at the major level. C is one position the Royals need to shore up at the higher levels.

Omaha

Phillips 87 G, 332 AB, .268/.317/.401, 7 HR, 42 RBI, 21 BB, 41 K, ? E
Jared Price 24 G, 88 AB, .239/.264/.455, 5 HR, 11 RBI,2 BB, 23 K, 4 E
Scott Walter 38 G, 145 AB, .269/.303/.497, 8, 30, 4 BB, 33 K, 4 E
Tomas Duenas 4 G, 12 AB, .250/.308/.250, 0, 0, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 E

*** Actually I didn't see Phillips as doing a whole lot throughout
the year in Omaha. Enough, anyway, to wonder why he's on the 40-man roster.
Price had good stats at High Desert (will be listed later) before
playing a whopping 4 games at AA to earn a trip to Omaha (typical
Royals move) and is 5 years younger at 23. Actually his OPS is a
point higher than Phillips although his OBP is bad. Looks like he
needs to figure out the strike zone. He had some great moments for
Omaha during the late run. Couldn't find Phillips' E stats at Omaha.
Duenas was a late season signing who didn't do much in limited
action.

Wichita

Mathew Tupman 109 G, 365 AB, .263/.355/.334, 2, 32, 46 BB, 62 K, 10E
John Draper 62 G, 182 AB, .247/.357/.330, 1, 14, 29 BB, 38 K, 2 E
Price 4 G, 10 AB, .300/.300/.700, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K, ? E

*** Draper also played some OF. Both can get on base but neither had
much power. Tupman had a good early and middle part of the season but
didn't seem to do much (from memory) down the stretch as the
Wranglers faded. They're both 25, or will be by the end of the MLB
season. I wouldn't rate them as high prospects but they're decent.

High Desert

Adam Donachie 95 G, 347 AB, .294/.375/.467, 12, 48, 43 BB, 78 K, 10 E
Price 30 G, 107 AB,.318/.348/.720, 11 HR, 32 RBI, 4 BB, 31 K, ? E
Luis Gonzalez 6 G, 14 AB, .286/.474/.357, 0, 1, 5 BB, 5 K, 1 E
Brady Everett 6 G, 18 AB, .278/.318/.333, 0, 2, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 E
Damaso Espino 25 G, 91 AB, .231/.304/.275, 1, 12, 9 BB, 8 K, ? E

*** Damn, check out Price's SLG! Donachie also had a good season,
although you have to remember this is the Cal League where every game
is basically Coors Field conditions. The team is "High Desert," after
all. Donachie is only 21, tho, so I'd rate him and Price as the top 2
catching prospects in the organization, followed by some 2005
draftees including Everett. Everett did all right in a late call-up
after hitting well at Idaho Falls. He is 22. I'd bet Price starts at
Omaha in '06 and Donachie is at least at Wichita. Tupman also might
be up at Omaha. The bulk of Espino's work was done at Burlington.

Burlington

Damaso Espino 74 G, 278 AB, .263/.329/.284, 0, 41, 27 BB, 27 K, 9 E
Robert Grana 42 G, 113 AB, .168/.240/.177, 0, 8, 11 BB, 29 K, 3 E
F. Del Rosario 26 G, 78 AB, .256/.341/.410, 2, 9, 10 BB, 19 K, 6 E
Jorge Maduro 7 G, 17 AB, .118/.167/.176, 0, 1, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 E

*** Espino had his moments for the Bees, too, including some clutch
hits but he had little power with only 6 XBH -- all doubles. Del
Rosario did well after Grana went down with a season-ending elbow
injury midway through the season. Del Rosario showed some pop and
didn't do bad with plate discipline. Espino was also good in that
facet. Espino is 22, Del Rosario 23. I wouldn't be surprised to see
Espino at High Desert with Everett to start '06. Espino did have a HR
at HD, which shows the power of the Cal League.

Idaho Falls

Everett 29 G, 108 AB, .361/.457/.593, 5, 21, 13 BB, 16 K, ? E
Kiel Thibault 41 G, 145 AB, .310/.388/.593, 9, 34, 10 BB, 26 K, 7 E
Jeff Howell 39 G, 136 AB, .346/.455/.449, 1, 17, 29 BB, 36 K, 4 E

*** Thibault and Everett both DH'ed some at IF. All three impressed
at the plate with Howell and Everett looking especially good in terms
of plate discipline. All three are '05 draftees -- Thibault 21 and
Howell 22. Any could be the Royals' catcher of the future or could
end up being prospects to ship somewhere to plug a hole. It'd be cool
if the Royals could keep all three and put them to use by '07, '08 or
'09. Everett will likely move up to HD and I can see Thibault and
Howell at Burlington to start '06. The Pioneer League also inflates
hitters' ##s, tho, so keep that in mind.

ASL Royals

Ross Boudreaux 27 G, 81 AB, .259/.406/.420, 2, 13, 14 BB, 25 K, 6 E
Jefferson Infante 16 G, 28 AB, .286/.429/.607, 2, 7, 5 BB, 12 K, 0 E
Oscar Marrero 21 G, 57 AB, .246/.317/.246, 0, 5, 6 BB, 11 K, 5 E
Nicholas Doscher 17 G, 48 AB, .146/.349/.167, 0, 4, 15 BB, 10 K, 2 E

*** Quick rundown on ages, Boudreaux 23, Infante 23, Marrero 18,
Doscher 18. Doscher proved he can get on base but not much else.
Boudreaux's stats are better than I thought he did from just looking
at box scores so I'd expect him at IF next year. At this point in the
organization there's kind of a logjam at C. Infante did well but was
mainly used as a PH. Good stats for limited action. Marrero and
Doscher will likely get another year in Arizona or maybe IF.

By the way, a complete Royals' organizational depth chart can be
found at http://www.freewebs.com/steelcurtain88/schematic.htm

For 2006, I'd give the C position a C-, but for the farther-out future I'd give it a B/B-