I wrote recently about the decisions the Royals will have to make regarding the Rule 5 draft this offseason, and about how their roster will look on Opening Day in 2022. You can read about that here.

First, here is a list of players that are either free agents at the end of the season or could easily be cut/moved on from that currently occupy 40-man roster spots:
– Wade Davis
– Greg Holland
– Hanser Alberto
– Jarrod Dyson
– Ryan McBroom
– Ervin Santana
– Michael A. Taylor

The weekly Royals MiLB leaderboards are updated, and the doubles leaders have a strong list.

Doubles

1.) Vinnie Pasquantino: 32
2.) Michael Massey: 25
3.) Nick Pratto: 22
4.) Bobby Witt Jr.: 21
5.) Jimmy Govern: 19
6.) MJ Melendez: 18
7.) Maikel Garcia + Nick Loftin + Tucker Bradley: 17
10.) Kyle Isbel: 16

Tuesday night highlight reel:

Vinnie Pasquantino’s unprecedented season

You may have seen this tweet already, but I just wanted to post it here really quick in case anyone missed it or just isn’t on Twitter:

Vinnie Pasquantino’s combination of contact, plate discipline, power, and overall production has not been matched in MiLB this season by a players with at least 200 PA. Granted, he started this season as a 23-year old in High-A, but this is his first professional season and somehow he’s managed to get better since his move to AA. His K% is down, his OBP is up, and his wRC+ is up since being promoted in July. Since 2016, here is a list of every player that has matched Vinnie Pasquantino’s current numbers, consisting of:

• a K% less than 14%
• an ISO over .250
• a wRC+ over 150
• with at least 250 PA in a MiLB season

The list of players:

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (19, AAA)
• Jeff McNeil (26, AAA)
• Alex Bregman (22, AAA)

Nothing but All-Star hitters on that list. There should be a very noticeable difference in the age and level at which these other hitters were accomplishing this feat. Vinnie is 23 and has played between High-A Double-A this season. However, we also have an example of an older hitter in Jeff McNeil figuring some things out later in his career. Jeff McNeil has a 128 career wRC+ across parts of four big league seasons and made an All-Star Game in 2019. Even if Vinnie Pasquantino is just a 120 wRC+ guy, you’re getting a LHH that performs 20% better than league average that you drafted in the 11th round. CJ Cron is gonna be worth a couple of wins this year with a 128 wRC+ playing mediocre defense at 1B with ~25 HR. That’s an incredible value for a contending team, even if Pasquantino just DH’s against RHP.

We listed Pasquantino as our 21st ranked Royals prospect at midseason, but it’s becoming more and more evident that we may have actually low balled him. I thought we were a little high on him even, having him 29th preseason and almost putting him in our top 20 at midseason, but my gosh. The kid just keeps hitting. Nick Pratto is also smashing baseballs and is rightfully praised as an elite defender at 1B, so I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll man 1B for KC long-term, but if Vinnie keeps hitting like this the Royals are going to be forced to find somewhere for him to play so he can be in the lineup. The production he’s continually showing is insane. Nearly unprecedented. I am extremely anxious and excited to see how he handles upper-level pitching here soon.