Which minor league prospects in the Kansas City Royals farm system have the best tools? The organization’s farm system is a deep group, offering a wide array of pitching and hitting talent. The team’s top two prospects, Jac Caglianone and Blake Mitchell, offer immense power ceilings. Up-and-coming arms, including Steven Zobac, Luinder Avila, and Noah Cameron, offer great command and a pitch mix full of great stuff. It’s still a system on the rise, working to build itself back up. Despite that, the Royals are well on their way to finding lasting success in the minor leagues.

Here’s a look at the team’s Top 10 prospects entering 2025:

1. 1B Jac Caglianone
2. C Blake Mitchell
3. RHP Steven Zobac
4. C Carter Jensen
5. OF Carson Roccaforte
6. RHP Hiro Wyatt
7. RHP Luinder Avila
8. LHP David Shields
9. LHP Noah Cameron
10. RHP Drew Beam

Which of the team’s prospects offers the best of each tool?

Power: Jac Caglianone

This is no surprise to anyone. Caglianone has 70 grade power at worst, and it may truly be the rare 80 grade. He’s the best power prospect the Royals have ever had in their system and one of the better power prospects the game has seen in recent memory, to say the least. “Cags” only hit two home runs with High-A Quad Cities last season, but his time there came after a long college season that saw his team play into the College World Series. There was plenty of fatigue, but even with that, he went to the Fall League and showed off impressive exit velocities. In 2025, Caglianone again lit up the league with a dominant 115.4 mph home run to deep center field. The power itself is enough to put Caglianone on the cusp of the big leagues and may very well get him there this season.

Hit: Javier Vaz

Some low-minors names offer an intriguing upside from a hit tool perspective. One of the most interesting is outfielder Raimel Medina. Medina had a strong showing last season, finishing with a .298 average. 14.5% strikeout rate, and 14.5% walk rate. Although he’s worth mentioning, it remains Javier Vaz who boasts the best hit tool in the Kansas City minor league system. His small 5-6 frame makes for a frustrating strikezone for opposing hitters. With such a small zone, Vaz does well to maximize his bat-to-ball skills, even if he has yet to hit for a high average. He hit .304 in a small Double-A sample in 2023 but followed that up with a .263/.375/.379 slash line in 2024. Even if the average leaves room for improvement, Vaz’s 11.5% strikeout rate was the best in the system. His 4.1% swinging strike rate was among the best in the entire minor leagues.

Speed: 3B Austin Charles

Tyler Tolbert has been the stolen base king in the Royals farm system for many years now. Despite that, it’s time to start taking notice of what Austin Charles offers in that regard. His 6-5 frame allows Charles to make long strides, gliding through the infield. He gets great jumps on the basepaths, helping him to reach 36 stolen bases a season ago. At just 20 years old, he posted a 121 wRC+ with Low-A Columbia and should get a chance to test High-A in 2025. The path forward for Charles will be dependent on development. In 2024, that path took him toward more of a contact-and-speed approach. His average improved nearly 20 points over the prior season, and he stole 24 additional bags. If the focus shifts back to more strength and power, that speed could take a hit. For now, however, Charles has the best speed among true prospects in the Royals’ farm system.

Glove: OF Carson Roccaforte

Roccaforte is, without question, the best defender in the Kansas City farm system. No other prospect came close to his level of consistency in the field. Not just that — Roccaforte put together a Gold Glove-caliber campaign at one of the more premium defensive positions in the sport. In all, he played 1042 innings in center field last season, committing just one error. Roccafore is fairly quick but is no Enrique Bradfield Jr. out in the field. Instead, he has a strong defensive IQ. Excellent jumps and routes to the baseball help Roccaforte to stand out defensively. It’s easily a plus glove with the potential to develop even further. The glove alone puts Roccaforte in the conversation to become an everyday center fielder. If his bat comes along as it did in last season’s second half, there’s All-Star ability.

Arm: C Blake Mitchell

Mitchell didn’t wow anyone with his stolen base marks last season. He caught well under 20% of base stealers. However, Low-A has become the Wild West for stolen bags, and that wasn’t entirely a result of poor performance on his part. Mitchell’s arm is double-plus and just needs a bit more accuracy behind it. A hamate bone injury won’t help him in that regard, but Mitchell will get the chance to quiet some questions about his ability behind the dish in 2025. Remember, we’re talking about a catcher who was fairly highly touted as a pitcher before the 2023 draft as well.

Control: RHP Steven Zobac

It’s close between Zobac and Noah Cameron. Both arms are accurate, but Zobac just edges out the lefty here. Zobac is a quickly rising name in the farm system. Much of that is thanks to impressive stuff, but his ability to command all his pitches with pinpoint precision just rounds out the profile. Thanks to that impressive command, Zobac generates a ton of swing and miss with his fastball. The control of the slider improved a season ago as well, and among pitchers in the system with at least 100 IP in 2024, Zobac led the way with a 5.6% walk rate. Among 328 minor league pitchers league-wide, that mark ranked 22nd.

Changeup: RHP Ben Kudrna

Kudrna’s secondaries have far outshined his fastball this Spring. Although his fastball needs some work, the 21-year-old’s changeup has become his best offering. The pitch gets a ton of horizontal break, averaging nearly 16 inches of run at times. At nearly 87 mph, the pitch has a solid shape that reminds me a bit of Matt Moore’s changeup from recent years. The pitch misses bats and helps Kudrna to post healthy whiff rates even if his fastball struggles to do the same.

Curveball: RHP Luinder Avila

For many years, we saw Frank Mozzicato’s name listed here. It’s time to pass that torch to Avila. With nearly 3,000 rpm and 50+ inches of drop, Avila’s curve is as close to a buzzsaw as you’ll find in the farm system. It may not quite be Seth Lugo’s, but it’s a fantastic pitch that’s notched a dominant 75% whiff rate early on in 2025 spring training. The fastball life has only made Avila’s curveball better, and he’s quickly become one of the better pitching prospects in the entire farm system. His entire arsenal is strong, but the outstanding curveball leads the way as not just his best pitch but the best curve in the entire Kansas City farm system.

Slider: LHP Tyson Guerrero

Guerrero has struggled to repeat his stellar 2023 campaign and is likely a reliever at this point. Despite that, his slider is nasty. He spins the slider upwards of 2700 rpm, averaging 83 mph with 14 inches of horizontal break and 36 inches of drop. It’s a vicious two-plane slider that Guerrero has no problem throwing to both left and right-handed hitters alike. The result this spring has been a 50% chase rate on the pitch. Others, including Andrew Hoffmann and Beck Way, are worth noting, but Guerrero edges them out with the best slider in the system.

Fastball: RHP Steven Zobac

While other fastballs in the system have shown flashes, like Blake Wolters for example, none are as advanced as Zobac’s right now. It’s a 60-grade fastball that’s only enhanced by excellent command. This spring it was on full display, averaging 2461 rpm with 17-19 inches of induced vertical break (iVB). That’s not quite elite, but certainly above-average. The shape is fantastic and Zobac’s ability to locate on the black allows him to dominate opposing hitters with the fastball alone.