Kansas City Royals: Issues with current rebuild
By John McCarty
Minor league prospects’ development hits snag with massive struggles at lower minor league levels
Much of the anticipation of the Kansas City Royals’ return to prominence was the anticipated arrival of the a group of young, athletic position players led by outfielders Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias, first baseman Nick Pratto and catcher MJ Melendez. Thus far, all four are struggling mightily, slowing their development and advancement to higher levels and eventually the ‘show’ of the major leagues.
Perhaps no struggle is highlighted more than 2017 first round draft pick Nick Pratto. To date in 2019 for Wilmington at High-A, Pratto has a batting average of .153 with an even more eye popping on-base percentage of .254. The first baseman is posting a mind numbing awful .469 OPS.
Just going off the three players currently playing at Wilmington that fans and the organization alike are hoping to be the future of the organization (Pratto, Matias and Melendez), none of the three are hitting over .200 and no player has an OPS above .600. That’s not bad, that’s approaching the point of panic.
At Northwest Arkansas, Khalil Lee is doing somewhat better, hitting .239 for the Naturals and posting a bad, but not panic just yet .678 OPS.
Perhaps the bigger concern for Khalil Lee is the complete lack of power the outfielder is showing, posting a meager .347 slugging percentage and two home runs in now just over 200 plate appearances spread out over 46 games. Lee is a high percentage ground ball hitter, with a career ground ball to fly ball ratio of 1.5, and this season is posting a staggering 1.96.
Obviously I’m not saying these players won’t turn into something, they all may very well turn out to be high level contributors to the Royals here in Kansas City. They certainly are not moving quickly through the system and it appears likely a few years away.
The problem with that scenario is simply, who will be in Kansas City when they get here.