It was an offensive weekend on the farm for the Royals’ affiliates. The Storm Chasers spread their innings amongst the hitters and ended up with six players with a 1.000 OPS or above. An unsurprising candidate continues to shine at AA. The A-ball teams seem like the most likely contenders for surprises, with two new faces this week.
The organization wasn’t too successful this week in terms of records. Most of the value comes from the performances we’ve seen from prospects. Asbel Gonzales and Erick Torres are outfielders who continue to impress, albeit without much power. Jac Caglianone hit a bad dry spell but broke through it with a grand slam during the Saturday slate. There’s been a large focus on where the Major League team is lacking. With most of the talent further away, it’s been hard to see the fun stuff happening below the surface. Here are your top performances from this past week down on the farm.
Omaha Storm Chasers
Record: 10-9
Hitter of the Week: Nick Loftin – .467/.667/.667
Nick Loftin feels like a taboo subject to touch on right now. He looks decent at AAA, but some underlying metrics don’t point to a bat that can help out the Royals. Regardless, he had a fantastic week collecting seven hits and nine walks over just five games. The gap power flashed with three doubles, and the plate vision is undeniable. It was the kind of week that you build on to get another shot at the big leagues. With only one RBI, it’ll be interesting to see if he can start influencing wins a bit more down the road. The silver lining is the six runs scored he accrued instead.
Pitcher of the Week: Jacob Wallace – 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 3 K
The Storm Chasers were not very successful on the bump this week, especially the starters. The strikeouts weren’t plentiful, and clean innings were hard to come by. Wallace has the honor of throwing the most scoreless innings this week. His line isn’t commanding or dominant. He did, however, take on two outings of multiple innings and allow just one baserunner per inning. He was efficient and stepped up to get his team through some innings. Wallace doesn’t have stuff to overpower a batter, but he has solid stuff across the board. This was the week he showed off his ability to bridge between a blown start and the rest of the pen.
Northwest Arkansas Naturals
Record: 8-7
Hitter of the Week: Peyton Wilson – .423/.464/.808
Peyton Wilson is the best hitter in the Royals’ system right now. It’s his second week with this honor, and this time it wasn’t even close. He had six extra-base hits this week: three doubles, two triples, and one home run. Alongside two walks, it was an extremely well-rounded week for Wilson. He continues to prove he learned something from his shortcomings in the 2024 season. His stats look almost identical to this week for the season. He continues to hit for a variety of contact and has some defensive versatility. The most you can analyze it this early in the season is that he has a 236 wRC+ to this point, and you can’t complain with that.
Pitcher of the Week: Ryan Ramsey – 1.69 ERA, 10.2 IP, 12 K
Ryan Ramsey made two starts, including one hitless and scoreless start of 5.2 innings. His other start allowed two runs over five innings and included all of his hits this week. Regardless, Ramsey was nails over two almost quality starts and was able to get outs at the plate as well. A 0.75 WHIP and .162 opponent average highlight the week for the righty out of the University of Maryland. He was easily the best starter out of the rotation this week. That’s highlighted further by the extra start he had over the other pitchers. Oh, and he started a combined no-hitter in his first start of the week!
Quad Cities River Bandits
Record: 10-4
Hitter of the Week: Daniel Vazquez – .438/.500/.625
Vazquez has yet to figure out consistent production in the Royals’ system. He is just 21 years old, and this week seemed like the best version of himself. In four games, he managed seven hits (including a double and a triple) alongside two walks. It wasn’t mind-blowing, yet he maximized his value in a small sample size. There’s not a lot of power in his game, but a gap approach with great defense could increase his potential tremendously. He’s going opposite field 54.3% of the time right now, so perhaps that’s where some of the success breeds from.
Pitcher of the Week: Johnny All-Staff
This staff was full of DAWGS this week. The rotation alone combined for one earned run. The entire staff had just five (5!) earned runs in 5 complete games. They had given up zero runs in the sixth game of the week before it was suspended in the fourth. All of this is highlighted further when you realize just one pitcher had three of the earned runs.
Felix Arronde, Drew Beam, Frank Mozzicato, and Hunter Patteson all threw scoreless starts this week. They also had a WHIP at or under 1.00 and opponent averages at or under .200. The most strikeouts came from the only starter to allow a run, Logan Martin. He struck out 8 over five innings and walked just one. His sole run came off a solo home run. A single mistake leads to him being the only starter to allow an earned run. The rest of the week is highlighted by eight relievers who finished the week scoreless. I wanted to pick just one pitcher, but I can’t do that to everyone else who was nails this week.
Columbia Fireflies
Record: 9-6
Hitter of the Week: Ramon Ramirez – .333/.400/.714
Ramon Ramirez tagged two doubles and two home runs this week on his way to seven RBI. Boosting his stats even more are three walks in his five games. It was a pretty good week for Columbia hitters, but Ramirez’s power helped him stand apart. At just 19, he has incredible power potential with a 55 raw power grade from Fangraphs. He’s a long way out from the Royals, but he already has four home runs in this young season and a .340 ISO. He won’t hit .333 every week, but if he can continue to walk consistently and swing for power like this, he’ll be a very young rookie.
Pitcher of the Week: Mason Miller – 0.00 ERA, 4.0 IP, 7 K
No, not that Mason Miller. However, this reliever did play pretty well with just one walk to pair with the strikeouts and three hits. On the season, he’s given up two runs in 10.2 innings, but he has struggled to avoid giving up hits. This week, he managed to limit baserunners really well and led the team in strikeouts as well. He was the only pitcher with more than three innings to finish the week without an earned run. Good week for the 23-year-old lefty.
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