One of the Royals’ most tenured minor league prospects has elected free agency entering the offseason. Adrian Alcantara, who turned 24 in August, pitched in 12 games this season between Low-A Columbia and Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Over those 37.2 innings, he pitched to a 4.30 ERA. The bulk of his work came in 25.2 innings for the Quad Cities River Bandits where he struck out just 5.26 batters per nine innings.
Alcantara signed with the Royals on March 3, 2017. By 2019, he looked like one of the more promising young arms in the system when he pitched to a 2.47 ERA over 51.0 innings at Low-A Burlington. He was selected as an Appalachian League All-Star that season and was also named a Baseball America Rookie All-Star the same year.
By the time 2021 rolled around, things looked much different for Alcantara and he never could quite find the same success that we saw pre-COVID. 2023 marked the sixth season in the minor leagues for Alcantara, thus making him eligible for Minor League free agency. Next up, Alcantara will hope to catch on in another organization on a minor league contract, or he could return to the Royals organization should a new opportunity not materialize.
