Image Credit: Jake Roth, USA Today Sports – Royals Spring Training Complex, Surprise Stadium
The 2024 Arizona Complex League will open on Saturday. It marks an earlier Opening Day for the Complex League slate in a change that was announced earlier in the offseason. With the earlier start time, the Complex League regular season schedule will now wrap up on July 25. The Royals have sent a handful of standouts from last summer to Low-A Columbia to start this season, including outfielder Erick Torres, top prospect Blake Mitchell, and infielder Jhonny Perdomo.
This year’s roster should again feature plenty of notable talent. The headliner figures to be last year’s DSL standout, Ramon Ramirez. The Venezuelan catcher made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League last season and was impressive. Over 41 games, he slashed .344/.440/.615 with eight home runs. That showing gave Ramirez plenty of hype this offseason, where he landed on some notable top prospects lists, including Prospects Live.
Royals prospects to follow in this year’s Arizona Complex League
Top 2022 International Signee, Juan Olmos, also figures to head to the Complex League after a difficult 2023 season in the Dominican. Shortstop Josi Novas is a 6-4 shortstop with above-average power potential. He slashed .324/.437/.450 last summer in the Dominican with a 130 wRC+. Other interesting prospects in the lineup include outfielders Roni Cabrera and Asbel Gonzalez. Cabrera was part of the return for Aroldis Chapman after a standout first-half of 2023. After arriving at the Royals Dominican Complex, the results weren’t quite as impressive.
Gonzalez is a “Goldilocks Zone” prospect, meaning he should stick up the middle of the diamond in center field. He has a chance to grow into his power while playing good center field defense. Gonzalez has solid speed and has shown flashes of good batted-ball skills thus far. On the mound, 2023 draftee Hiro Wyatt figures to headline the rotation for the ACL Royals. Wyatt was the team’s third-round pick last summer and is a former Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Connecticut.
Other arms to monitor include Weskendry Espinoza and Shawndrick Oduber. Espinoza pitched to a 2.45 ERA in last summer’s DSL with 36 strikeouts over 36.2 IP. He features a lively fastball with an exceptional arm side break. Oduber is an international signing out of Aruba. The 6-0 righty struck out 42 hitters over 29.1 innings pitched last season. Marwys Jorge could find his way to Arizona sometime this season, but more likely he’s slated to pitch another full season in the Dominican before heading to the Complex League in 2025.