KC Royals: Ismael Aquino and Dairon Blanco intriguing prospects from A’s

The KC Royals received two prospects in exchange for relief pitcher Jake Diekman, who they sent to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday. What should Royals expect from these new prospects?

It was only a matter of time before Jake Diekman was traded and that time was early Saturday afternoon when he was sent to Oakland for Ismael Aquino and Dairon Blanco. Receiving two prospects for a reliever who was on a one-year deal and had an ERA just under five appears to be a pretty good trade for the Kansas City Royals, at least on paper.

With that said, however, let’s take a look at these two prospects more.

Aquino is 20 years old from the Dominican Republic, who is currently in Rookie ball. He’s pitching to the tune of a 4.58 ERA with a 1.47 WHIP in 17.2 innings of work. He’ll be 21 in September, so he’s definitely got some work to do and needs to fine tune some things on the mound.

Blanco is 26 years old and currently in AA ball, which is interesting. He missed two years and currently is slashing .276/.342/.468 with seven home runs and 44 RBI in 301 at bats. He’s an older prospect for sure and it’ll be interesting to see if the Royals can get much out of him.

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Blanco is hitting well in AA at least. He’s spent most of his time in left field, which is noteworthy considering Alex Gordon is in the final year of his initial contract and despite potentially wanting to return in 2020, is 35 years old and definitely near the end of his career. Could Blanco be a potential replacement for Gordon?

When it comes down to it, these prospects aren’t super exciting. Aquino is too young to really pencil in as anything and Blanco is a 26 year old prospect who missed two years of playing time. Still, Diekman got the Royals two new players who might be able to help them win some games in the coming years.

Through their three trades so far, the Royals have now brought in two outfielders and two pitchers. One of those pitchers is Mike Montgomery, who is 30 years old and on the downslope of his career. Kevin Merrell, who the Royals got in the Homer Bailey trade, seems promising but has been banged up recently.

What do you think of the newest members of the Kansas City Royals farm system? Do you think either of these guys can contribute in the big leagues any time soon?