Team Name: Lexington Legends
Location: Lexington, KY
Stadium Name: Whitaker Bank Ballpark
League: South Atlantic League
Level: A
Starting Lineup:
C: Michael Emodi
1B: Dennicher Carrasco
2B: Jose Marquez
SS: Kyle Kasser
3B: Rubendy Jaquez
LF: Jackson Lueck
CF: Michael Gigliotti
RF: Eric Cole
DH: Nate Eaton
Bench:
- Cristian Perez, MIF
- Cal Jones, OF
- Tyler James, UTIL
- Jesus Atencio, C
Starting Rotation:
- Charlie Neuweiler
- Kris Bubic
- Austin Cox
- Zach Haake
- Jonathan Bowlan
Bullpen:
- Dillon Drabble
- Jon Heasley
- JC Cloney
- Kyle Hinton
- Garrett Davila
- Daniel Duarte
- Robert Garcia
Let me save you the suspense and tell you off the bat that this is almost certainly going to be very wrong. Juan Carlos Negret could very well be on this team on Opening Day. Michael Gigliotti could be in Wilmington. The lowest level of full-season affiliates is always the hardest roster to peg.
This team is going to be sneaky good. The starting rotation is solid with some serious upside. The lineup could get off to a slow start but, much like the rotation, I think there’s a ton of upside there. Kyle Kasser reminds me a bit of Nicky Lopez at SS, Rubendy Jaquez is one of my favorite under-the-radar guys, Michael Gigliotti is a top prospect in the system, and Nate Eaton can flat swing it.
I’m not gonna spend too much time here because, again, this is almost certainly very wrong. This is the roster I was able to put together but it required me to leave off some guys that I like. I gave the 1B job to Dennicher Carrasco, but that meant the removal of Manny Olloque from the roster and it means Reed Rohlman won’t be able to make the jump. There are several instances where I left a player off that would’ve probably made it in any other year. This roster will have some uncertainty to it, but it should be sneaky good in 2019 as well.
Photo Credits: Doc Riddle (@TheGrandOldGame)
Royals Farm Report 
Agree with you that it will be very hard to predict, plus it will be very fluid. I’d Expect Morel and Kaufman to be on the squad at some point, but will probably start the year in ESP. They will probably want to limit Morel’s innings this year.
Also SP/RP will be fluid at the beginning of the year with a lot of piggybacking taking place. With Cloney, Heasley, and Davila possibly beating out the likes of Cox, Bowlan, and Haake come May/June.
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Austin Cox isn’t getting beat out. He’ll get promoted if anything.
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I’ve seen him ranked pretty high here. I’m not a big fan however. Apa Boleh Buat.
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I really like this rotation and I could see Morel getting pushed to Lexington on opening day. Lots of college depth in pitching. IF Luciano is returned, would he start in Lexington? Where do you think Chase Vallot ends up? He ended last year with this crew. Since he was so young when signed, he is still age of college draftee in 2018. Hadn’t thought of Carrasco at 1B but this group doesn’t have much in 1B prospects. Could Eaton play 1B? He seems to be able to play anywhere and throwing won’t be an issue. Bullpen is anyone’s guess. Your picks are good as any of them.
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If the college guys + Neuwiler anchor the rotation, I would love to see a rotation of Morel, Capellan, Kaufman, and Luciano at Burlington this summer. Put your top pitching draftee with that group and that is gold!
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Morel capellan and Kauffman all figure to start in ESP. Probably jump to Lexington in July when Bubic cox and Neuweiler get promoted
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