With the minor league season winding down, many of the Kansas City Royals minor league prospects will set their sights on the offseason. Some will play in minor league playoff series. Both the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers and High-A Quad Cities River Bandits have punched their tickets to postseason play. Others may end up playing in this year’s Arizona Fall League. Royals players will again play for the Surprise Saguaros this season. In last year’s Fall League, Kansas City sent three Top 30 prospects: Nick Loftin, Gavin Cross, and Peyton Wilson. Others, including Eric Cerantola, Rylan Kaufman, Jacob Wallace, Beck Way, and Angel Zerpa also went to Arizona. Partway through the Fall League season, Daniel Lynch IV and catcher Omar Hernandez also played in games. Loftin only appeared for a short time before leaving the Fall League.
This year, the Royals will again send a handful of minor leaguers to Arizona. The Fall League isn’t simply more baseball. Teams don’t necessarily send their best prospects. A lot of times, it’s a chance for players who missed time due to injury in the regular season to get in more work in real game action. Other times, participants are top prospects who the team wants to get more time before the offseason arrives. Who might the Royals send to this year’s Fall League?
2B/OF Javier Vaz
Javier Vaz has had a strong season in 2024. His power output has cooled, posting just a .387 slugging percentage this season. His .117 ISO doesn’t fly off the chart, but he continued to do what he does best: make contact. Vaz again finished among the minor league’s very best in regard to whiff rate, strikeout rate, and K/BB. His slash line was worth a 122 wRC+, and he played great defensively. Most of his season was spent at second base, mixing around far less than he did a year ago. He’s played 82 games at second and 15 in left field so far in 2024. Playing in this year’s Fall League would be excellent exposure for Vaz, who could factor in for Kansas City as early as next season. Don’t be surprised if he’s one of the headliners among Royals participants this fall.
RHP Luinder Avila
Avila was pitching masterfully before an injury sidelined him for a big chunk of this season. That injury is a large driving force behind why I expect he may get some added time in Arizona. Avila made his Double-A debut this season, pitching to a 3.77 FIP across 18 starts so far. His 22.6% strikeout rate isn’t all that great, but it’s better than the mark he posted in High-A a year ago. Avila profiles as a future fifth starter if he sticks in a bullpen at all. More likely, I think he has the makeup of a back-end reliever if the Royals eventually make that move. With his time lost to injury this season, a stint in the Fall League makes a lot of sense.
RHP Anthony Simonelli
Simonelli has moved around this season, splitting time between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. Results have been fantastic for the Naturals, thanks to a 32.7% strikeout rate en route to a 2.72 FIP. Those results weren’t nearly as strong in Omaha, but there’s some intrigue around Simonelli regarding his future potential as a reliever. Last fall, the Royals sent four relievers, including Beck Way, Eric Cerantola, Rylan Kaufman, and Jacob Wallace. Simonelli makes a lot of sense as one of the relievers to join this year’s group.
RHP Chase Wallace
A lot of the reasons that pertain to Simonelli above also apply here to Chase Wallace. Wallace has also split time between AA and AAA this season. In 38.1 IP for the Naturals, results have been strong. Wallace owns a 3.35 FIP in that sample of work with 38 strikeouts and just nine walks. A smaller nine-inning sample in Triple-A wasn’t nearly as pretty this season, where Wallace walked more batters than he struck out and posted a FIP near six. At 25-years-old, it’s getting to be crunch time for Wallace when it comes to proving his future stock as a reliever. The Fall League could give him a chance to prove himself a bit more.
LHP Frank Mozzicato
I’m not sure how likely this is, but it would make sense to see Mozzicato get in some extra work. The Royals 2021 first-round pick started his 2024 season late. He stayed behind in Arizona while the rest of the Quad Cities roster started their season. He’s already surpassed his career-high in innings but saw some concerning drops in production this season. Most notably, Mozzicato’s strikeout rate fell five percent compared to a year ago at the same level. At the same time, however, he dropped his walk rate and held opponents to just a .201 average. There’s more development needed and Mozzicato is seemingly starting to fall behind in that development. Fellow 2021-draftee Ben Kudrna has already made his way to Double-A while Mozzicato is set to finish his 2024 season in the same place it started. An extra sample of innings in the Fall League could provide some added development time to help Mozzicato continue moving forward.
RHP Noah Murdock
Murdock was a seventh-round pick in 2019 and he’s looked really sharp so far this season. He debuted this season at Double-A for the third consecutive season but eventually made his way north to Omaha. Since arriving, the results have been strong. Over 25 appearances for the Storm Chasers, Murdock pitched to a 3.86 FIP with a 26.2% strikeout rate. There are worthy concerns around his command, but Murdock’s imposing 6-8 frame paired with his upper 90s fastball is an excellent combination. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this offseason, so it makes some sense for the Royals to get an extra look at him before those roster decisions must be made.