Minor League Minutes: 7/19/18 – Khalil Lee hits his first AA home run

Khalil Lee hit AA HR #1

— Royals Farm Report (@RoyalsFarm) July 19, 2018

Lee finished Wednesday’s game an impressive 2-4 with a HR, a BB, and a SB.

Lee was also the subject of my most recent post in which I try to find historical comps for current Royals prospects.

Khalil Lee: 301 PA, 4 HR, 13 2B, 4 3B, 14 SB, 15.9% BB%, 24.9% K%, .135 ISO, .270/.402/.406/.810, .381 wOBA, 134 wRC+, 12.8% SwStr%, 26.9% LD%

Nicky Delmonico: 263 PA, 13 HR, 12 2B, 0 3B, 5 SB, 13.7% BB%, 22.4% K%, .226 ISO, .243/.350/.469/.819, .372 wOBA, 126 wRC+, 14.7% SwStr%, 16.1% LD%

Blake Perkins is a perfect 4-4 with 2 runs scored and a SB. My goodness. He’s now batting .307/.407/.409/.816 since joining the Royals with 6 SB.

— Royals Farm Report (@RoyalsFarm) July 19, 2018

Perkins finished Wednesday’s game 4-5 and was the subject of Marcus’ post that takes a look back on the Kelvin Herrera trade. So far, so good.

Perkins on the other hand has put up a very respectable .274/.396/.369 line with a 14.4 percent walk rate, 20.2 percent strikeout rate, and six stolen bases in 22 games. Already rated an above average center fielder, Perkins looks like he might be turning a corner with the bat. His on-base ability is a serious asset, and four of his last six have been multi-hit games.

Don’t miss out on the most recent edition of our mid-season prospect rankings.

New and improved CB rankings (min. 25 CB):

1) Jason Adam 😳
2) Scott Barlow 😳😳
3) Jose Leclerc
4) Tim Collins (was just DFA’d)
5) John Axford
6) Joakim Soria
7) Max Fried
8) Carlos Torres
9) Will Harris
23) Collin McHugh
55) Verlander
57) Kershaw
101) Danny Duffy (z=0.3999)

— Alex Duvall (@duvy_013) July 8, 2018

Nick Heath and Cristian Castillo were promoted to AA yesterday, marking yet another move in a chain of recent promotions. Keep up with all of those promotions here, including my guess at who’s next.

Jacob Condra-Bogan
- An underrated bullpen arm, Jacob was destroying Low-A. In 26 IP, he had a 1.71 FIP and 39 K to only 2 BB. His fastball is reportedly reaching the upper-90’s, and the Royals may have found a gem after signing Condra-Bogan out of independent ball.

Now that Manny Machado is a Dodger, the Brewers are set to win the trade deadline, via the Royals.

Manny Machado is a great baseball player. He’s been worth 2.9 bWAR (3.8 fWAR) so far in 2018. Pretty impressive. However, I believe there’s a better option out there for Milwaukee. What if I told you there was a different middle infielder who has been worth 2.8 bWAR (3.2 fWAR) that can also play in the outfield and has 4+ years of team control left, and he’s probably cheaper than Manny Machado? Doesn’t make a lot of sense, right?

Is Mike Moustakas the next trade domino to fall?

Is Salvy a Hall of Famer?