Kansas City Royals: Top 12 prospects heading into 2020
By Cody Rickman
10) Jonathan Bowlan – RHP Starting Pitcher (ETA: 2022)
Jonathan Bowlan is listed at an imposing 6’6” and 262 pounds and went on to have a successful 2019 season split between A Lexington and A+ Wilmington pitching 146.0 innings of 3.14 ERA, 0.986 WHIP, and 150 Ks.
He pitched an absolute gem on July 15th for A+ Wilmington, throwing a no-hit, 9 K complete game shutout. Complete game no-hitters are extremely rare in the minor leagues, as Bowlan only required 98 pitches to accomplish the feat.
Bowlan features a 92-95 mph fastball with heavy sink (projectable for +1-2 mph velocity), a low 80s sharp breaking slider, and a developing change-up. If he’s able to find more confidence and consistency in his slider and change-up, he could have a ceiling as a number three type starter. He’s shown the ability to repeat his delivery well and has the potential to handle a large inning workload or be frightening reliever.
Bowlan may start out the 2020 season at A+ Wilmington moving up to AA Northwest Arkansas by mid-season. Bowlan shows a good comparison to reliever Jeff Nelson if he doesn’t develop a change-up.
11) Nick Pratto – First Base (ETA: 2022)
Nick Pratto has Gold Glove potential at first base for the Royals. He had massive struggles at the plate during the 2019 campaign at A+ Wilmington slashing .191/.278/.310 with 31 extra base hits (nine home runs).
Talent evaluators around the league still like Pratto’s offensive potential and project him to be a plus contact hitter with above average power. He still has a solid approach at the plate, but needs to drive the ball more and make better contact. Working with new hitting coordinator Drew Saylor should help in his progression during the 2020 season.
Pratto has an outstanding arm for a first baseman (hit 88-mph pitching in high school) and he’s athletic enough to provide plus range at first base bag. He is one of the best baserunners in the Royals system and will steal bases regardless of his average speed.
The 2019 season for Pratto was a challenging, frustrating failure in terms of offensive production. He did show improvement in the A+ postseason and hit .265/.359/.441 with four extra base hits. Pratto has been a key contributor for Royals championship teams at A Lexington (2018) and A+ Wilmington (2019).
Pratto should start out the 2020 season at AA Northwest Arkansas and should play a full season at the level. He drew lofty comparisons to Joey Votto following the 2017 amateur draft, but a more reasonable comparison for Pratto is former Royal Doug Mientkiewicz, who hit .271/.360/.405 in his 12-year career.
12) Tyler Zuber – RHP Reliever (ETA: 2021)
Tyler Zuber had a dominant 2019 season, making 21 relief appearances at A+ Wilmington and 22 relief appearances at AA Northwest Arkansas. He was able to shut down hitters with a 1.79 ERA, 0.904 WHIP, 68 Ks in 55.1 innings during the 2019 season. For good measure, he went to the Dominican Winter League and threw 15.0 innings of 1.20 ERA, 0.867 WHIP, 18 Ks.
Zuber throws his fastball in the high 90s and isn’t afraid to work inside on hitters. His wipeout slider is an outstanding swing-miss pitch. He uses his change-up rarely to throw hitters off his fastball. Zuber is a good candidate to be the Royals closer of the future.
Zuber should return to AA to start the 2020 season with a likely promotion to AAA by mid-season. He has shown the ability to handle the high-pressure reliever role in the minors and shined in handling the excitement and high-pressure situations of the Dominican Winter League.
There is a Greg Holland comparison here if Zuber develops his change-up a bit more.