Ladies and gentlemen: let the fire sale begin!

That’s right folks, the 2019 Royals fire sale has officially begun with the shipping of Jon Jay to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two young arms. I’m going to give you a scouting report on my favorite arm in the trade, and one of my new most favorite arms in the entire system, Elvis Luciano.

You guys, I am in love with this kid. His arm action is smooth, his fastball is electric with room to grow, and that slider…oh my gosh. I’m not actually going to go there, but I watched two minutes of this kid pitch and thought to myself: “This kid has the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the Royals system.”

I’m not sure I actually believe that yet, but, I’m not being entirely facetious either. I can feasibly see a situation in which Elvis Luciano possessed the ability to throw 95-97 mph with consistency as he matures and fills out his somewhat wiry 6’2″ 180 lb. frame.

Here’s Royals assistant GM JJ Picollo on Luciano:

“He’s a power arm that keeps getting better. He’s been up to 97 recently and competes really well. We feel like we have a young starter with a big ceiling. Seems to keep getting better and heading in the right direction.”

I’m all in on this kid. He and Yefri del Rosario give the Royals a pair of 18-year olds that have some ridiculously high ceilings in my opinion. Both of them feature explosive fastballs with promising breaking pitches, and both of them will have my utmost attention for the rest of this summer.

Think about this for a second. The Diamondbacks had Luciano in their system and all the Royals had to do to acquire him was sign Jon Jay late in the offseason. The Jon Jay signing could not have worked out any better for the Kansas City Royals. I would’ve called you crazy if you’d have told me the Royals could get a guy like Luciano when they signed Jon Jay.

1 point for Dayton Moore. With Jay is gone, who will the Royals trade next?

“Gentleman, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.”