The Royals traded LHP Tim Hill to the Padres for RHP prospect Ronald Bolaños and OF Franchy Cordero tonight.

Cordero has played 79 games in the majors over the past three seasons so I won’t dig too deep into his prospect status. Cordero has a lot of potential if he can stay healthy and in the lineup. He has good speed and some pop. The problem has been injuries and strikeouts. Cordero seems to be a solid piece to compete for time with the Royals outfield mix.

Bolaños was the 13th ranked prospect in the Padres system by Baseball America. Minor League Pipeline has already slotted Bolaños in as the Royals 16th ranked prospect. The Royals are getting a young righty who has a chance to give them major league innings right away.

Bolaños throws hard and made his debut last September. His fastball was between 94 and 96 in his 5 games with the Padres. Bolaños has been known to cut, sink, run, and try to rise his fastball. This makes it hard to square him up as the ball is always moving different directions. Bolaños throws a slider and more traditional curve. The pitches have high rates of spin meaning they shoukd have good movement. He also throws a change up which seems to be average.

This is a very good return for Tim Hill. The lefty reliever has good value to a team, especially a team trying to finally break through and make a playoff run who seems to be right on the cusp. The Royals got a potential starting outfielder and back end of the rotation piece. If Bolaños doesn’t stick in the rotation, he most certainly should be in consideration for the Royals pen.