Now just over two months into the 2024 minor league season, results are starting to stabilize and small sample sizes are starting to become less so. Now is about the time that we can start to put some stock into the results on the field. Right around this time last season (maybe even a tad earlier), players such as David Sandlin, Noah Cameron, and Anthony Veneziano were making waves and earning promotions. Austin Charles was making the move from Surprise to Columbia with a ton of hype.
It’s also the time of year when unsustainable results tend to taper off. It’s crunch time for many prospects hoping to raise their stock within the system. This year, that applies as much as ever. Can Blake Mitchell drive his strikeout rate down, now two months into his first full season? Can Carson Roccaforte rediscover his plate discipline and maintain loft at the same time? Is John Rave really going to be a big leaguer, or will he start to slump similar to last season after a hot start in Omaha? We won’t have the answer to those questions for another couple of weeks, but we do have an idea of some of the surprise prospects shining in the organization this season.
Last season, that list included Austin Charles, Brett Squires, Steven Zobac, and John McMillon, to name a few. None of these names are going to find their way into the team’s Top 30 quite yet, but have shown promising signs that could help them reach that list sometime in the future. Even if they don’t, perhaps they’ll someday provide some big-league impact to some degree, which would still be a great story for each of these guys who weren’t really covered to any degree entering the season.
Hyungchan Um
Um is a 20-year-old catcher born in Seoul, South Korea. The Royals signed him out of Korea as a high schooler back in 2022, and he’d become the first Korean-born player to appear in a game for the Royals in franchise history (should he ever make his way to the big leagues). His debut season last year wasn’t the strongest. He appeared in 15 games, playing in the Complex League. He slashed .220/.305/.320 with three extra-base hits and a 25.4% strikeout rate. This season, he’s found much more success. Playing again in Surprise, Um has appeared in 19 games and has ten extra-base hits already.
He’s slashed .310/.410/.563 and trimmed his strikeout rate by three percent. Defensively, he’s played more games as a designated hitter (10) than he has at catcher (9), but he’s yet to commit an error and has caught 26% of would-be base stealers. Um is just the next in what’s become a rather deep crop of minor-league catchers for the Royals. Behind The Captain in Kansas City, the team has Logan Porter and Austin Nola in Omaha. Carter Jensen, Blake Mitchell, and Ramon Ramirez are all among the team’s best prospects and also play catcher. Before the year is up, there’s a chance that Um will get a chance in Columbia but with so much depth, it may be hard to find regular time for him there.
Diego Guzman
The Royals signed Guzman as part of their 2001 International Signing class. He’s a 23-year-old infielder who’s spent time at third base, shortstop, and second base. He spent each of his first three seasons in the Complex League with below-average results. He’s showcased gap power and below-average ability to hit for average. This season, that’s changed. He debuted again with the Surprise Royals this season, appearing in 17 games before a promotion to Low-A Columbia in early June. While in Surprise, he slashed .343/.389/.657 with 13 extra-base hits.
The strikeouts remain a concern, as he struck out 26.3% even in the midst of his hot start this season. Now, he’ll get the chance to translate some of that success to the next level. He played third base in his first appearance for the Fireflies and should continue to get time all over the infield. Columbia currently employs Austin Charles, Daniel Vazquez, Lizandro Rodriguez, and Jhonny Perdomo in their infield. Guzman makes what was an already somewhat crowded group even more so.
Chris Brito
Brito this season reminds me a lot of Brett Squires from last season. Much like Squires, Brito is an undrafted first baseman with college time under his belt. With 213 NCAA games under his belt, Brito isn’t exactly evenly matched by much of the talent in Columbia. He played well in his time at Rutgers, however. In all, he posted a .945 OPS with 46 home runs for the Scarlet Knights. So far this season for Low-A Columbia, Brito has done more of the same. He’s walked (27) more times than he’s struck out (17) while hitting .299 with 11 extra-base hits in 35 games.
Brito has become a mainstay in the heart of Columbia’s lineup just as we saw with Brett Squires last season. He’s already 24, and probably far too old for true prospect status at this point. However, there’s still time for him to move his way through the system and provide big-league depth at some point. He’s the next in a line of similar first basemen to come through the Kansas City farm system, joining Squires and Naturals first baseman, Dillan Shrum.
Chase Isbell
Isbell was a 15th-round pick out of Auburn in last year’s draft. He was a senior, signing for essentially the minimum $150,000. His pitch mix features a fastball, slider, and curveball. Much like a handful of guys on this list, Isbell isn’t quite fairly matched for his age and experience. He will turn 24 in September and reminds me some of what we saw from Cooper McKeehan last season for Columbia. Isbell offers solid organizational depth with the chance to turn that into something more. The same could’ve been said for lefty Walter Pennington two years ago.
So far this season, Isbell owns a 0.79 ERA over 22.2 IP. His 41.3% strikeout rate leads the entire farm system and he’s paired that with a 6.3% walk rate. Opponents have hit just .120 against him, and he’s been absolutely dominant. There’s not much reason to rush him through the system, so he may spend the bulk of the season with Columbia. Once he does get a chance, though, seeing his stuff play against hitters in High-A will give a clearer picture of just how promising he may be long-term.
Jarold Rosado
Rosado signed with the Royals out of the Dominican Republic in 2020. He missed the entire 2022 season due to injury, then struggled in his return last season. He appeared in 15 games for the Surprise Royals last season, pitching to a 10.38 ERA with 23 walks in 25 innings. The strikeout stuff offers some potential, however. Last season he struck out 12.1 batters per nine innings and he’s replicated that exact number again this season. What hasn’t been replicated this season has been the walk rate.
Now with Low-A Columbia, Rosado has walked just four hitters in 23.0 IP this season. He owns a 2.74 ERA. His 2.21 FIP doesn’t show any sign of regression on the horizon, but he does work around a fair number of hits in each outing. Rosado throws a fastball, slider, and a changeup and has worked out of the bullpen in a late-inning role this season.
Anthony Simonelli
Simonelli was a 16-round pick out of Virginia Tech back in 2021. The Royals have brought him along slowly, finally promoting him to Double-A last season. He struggled there with an ERA north of six and started his 2024 season again with the Naturals. The results were far better for him this time around. This season for Northwest Arkansas, he appeared in 14 games, pitching to a 1.35 ERA. Simonelli struck out 34 hitters in 26.2 IP while walking only seven. That showing earned him a promotion to Omaha in May.
Since moving to Omaha, he’s made two appearances and is yet to allow a run. Simonelli’s stuff isn’t going to blow many people away. He doesn’t spin the ball well and doesn’t have great velocity, but offers a more crafty approach out of the bullpen. He’s already 25 years old, pitching in a similar role to what we saw from Jonah Dipoto in the last two seasons. In the long term, he provides solid organizational depth in the upper minors but could get a chance to pitch some big-league innings if he can continue improving his arsenal.
