Our method for determining our top 100 Royals prospects came from an aggregate of three separate top 100 lists. These lists were compiled by three members of our writing staff: Patrick Brennan, Alex Duvall, and Drew Osborne.

• View 100-91 here.
• View 90-81 here.
• View 80-71 here.
• View 70-61 here.
• View 60-51 here.
• View 50-41 here.
• View 40-31 here.
• View 30-26 here.
• View 25-21 here.
• View 20-16 here.
• View 15-11 here.
• View 10-6 here.
• View 5 here.
• View 4 here.

3. Seuly Matias, OF

DOB: 09/04/1998

B/T: R/R

Levels Played, 2017: Rookie (Burlington)

Acquired: Free Agent, Dominican Republic

ETA: 2022

2017 Stats: 57 G, .243/.297/.423, 54 H, 13 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 27 R, 36 RBI, 2 SB (Burlington)

Out of any Kansas City Royals prospect, the player with the highest ceiling is hands down Seuly Matias. The big-bonus 2015 international signing from the Dominican Republic found himself settling into pro ball this year with the Burlington Royals, posting an 89 wRC+ in his age 18 season.

The line wasn’t too pretty, but I saw a lot of good from Matias this past season. The numbers might have been a bit skewed by a second half slide, as he hit .200/.248/.340 in the month of August. The encouraging moments from Matias mostly came from the month of July when he was locked in. Matias hit for a nice .316/.380/.589 line, good for a 149 wRC+.

The tools are all there with Matias. For a teenager (that’s still growing), his strength is elite. His hands are very, very, very explosive that allow for insanely fast bat speed.

These tools equate to him easily being the best power prospect in the Royals organization. Expect the home run numbers to start rising with time.

The biggest worry with Matias is the swing-and-miss. He lacks ideal pitch recognition skills, leading to high strikeout numbers. Though we did see some improvement with him decreasing his K% from 38.2% in 2016 to 29.3% this past season. Like many young players, he needs major work in this department if he wants to successfully climb the minor league ladder.

It looks like Matias is already starting to transition away from center field after playing every game there in his debut season. Matias was featured in right field for every game this year, showing that might be the better position for him. The speed isn’t great (he’ll never be a great base stealer with his speed) and he’ll never have the range to play an ideal center field, but with that 70 grade arm of his, right field seems perfect for him.

There is clear upside here with Matias and still tons of talent to be tapped into. He’s likely heading for Lexington in 2018, where he will look to show more polish in his first full professional season.

Photo Credits: The Times-News