Kendall Graveman quietly becoming a guy worth adding to your teams

Sanchez getting the bonds treatment

Rondon back 1st week of Sept........

nice.

Darvish straight away center in only his 15 AB... impressive

Wow. Thought for sure Longo was going to burn them again.

Jake Junis, Pitcher

Junis was a 29th round pick in 2011 out of Rock Falls High School in northern Illinois, bypassing North Carolina State for a $675,000 bonus. The right-handed pitcher had disastrous numbers in 2013 with Idaho Falls, giving up 59 runs in 59 2/3 innings, but his strikeout and walk numbers were good and he rebounded well in 2014. This year, at age 23, he had a 3.39 ERA for AA Northwest Arkansas with 117 strikeouts in 119 innings and just 2.0 walks per-nine-innings before a recent promotion to AAA Omaha.

Junis has a fastball that sits in the low-90s with a curveball and change up. He has always shown good command, and with his spike in strikeout rate this season, he could have a future in the Royals rotation, most likely as a back-of-the rotation starting pitcher.
Eric Skoglund, Pitcher

By the numbers, Skoglund has been pretty much a left-handed version of Junis, matching his numbers at each level. He is a month younger than Junis, although he was drafted out of the University of Central Florida in 2014. Skoglund has put up a solid season at AA Northwest Arkansas with a 3.41 ERA in 24 starts, although his 7.5 strikeouts-per-nine innings are not as impressive as Junis' whiff rate this year.

Skoglund stands at 6'7'' and throws in the low 90s with below-average secondary offerings, suggesting his future may be as a reliever. He is more of a finesse pitcher, and MLB.com likes his easy, repeatable delivery, so it is not unthinkable that he could crack a rotation as a crafty lefty if he refines his curveball and change up.

Khalil Lee, Outfielder

Lee was a third-round pick in this year's draft out of a Washington D.C.-area suburb. Many thought that he would be drafted as a pitcher, with his ability to throw in the low 90s, but the Royals took a chance on him as an outfielder. He has plus speed, with the ability to play centerfield, and obviously he has a strong arm as well. He is off to a fantastic start in the Arizona Summer League, hitting .277/.417/.497 with six home runs. He has showed tremendous plate discipline, rare for a high school draftee, drawing 33 walks in 44 games, although he has also struck out 50 times.

There are a number of other 2016 draft picks off to great starts - shortstop Nicky Lopez, first baseman Chris DeVito, pitcher Grant Gavin, and outfielder Kort Peterson - but Lee has the highest upside.
Andrew Edwards, Pitcher

Shaun Newkirk's Mid-season Prospect List
Read about the top ten Royals prospects

Royals fans could see the hard-throwing Edwards in a few weeks as a September callup, after he was named a AAA All-Star for his performance in Omaha. The right-hander from Western Kentucky University had a poor outing this week, giving up five runs that ballooned his ERA to 3.83 for the year, but he has 68 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings. Edwards can throw in the high 90s, but has command issues, walking 4.7 hitters-per-nine-innings this year across both levels.

The former 19th round pick has a pretty big split, getting hammered by lefties, although he did not have a split last year. Edwards fared well in limited action in the Arizona Fall League last year. At age 24, he could compete for a bullpen role in Kansas City next spring.

Corey Toups, Second Baseman

Toups has become a bit of a darling in some corners, and while I am not as high on him as others are, he has impressed with his numbers and could force his way onto a big league roster before too long. A former teammate of minor league first baseman Ryan O'Hearn at Sam Houston State, Toups is a second baseman who doesn't seem to excel in any area of the game, but does everything well. In 114 games across High A and AA ball this year, he is hitting .274/.360/.447 with 10 HR 46 RBI. The 23-year old has played both middle infield positions, but projects to be more of a second baseman going forward due to a below-average arm.

Toups is a good baserunner, stealing 58 bases in the minors at a success rate of 86.5%. He has a high walk rate of 11.5% in his career, suggesting he could be an effective top-of-the-order hitter someday. He has decent gap power, and while he won't hit a lot of home runs, he is still a threat to put one out of the ballpark at times. Toups projects to be more of a utility infielder, but his bat may allow him to push his way into a starting role.
Pedro Fernandez, Pitcher

The right-hander does not have eye-popping numbers throughout his career, but has held his own despite being fairly young at each level. He signed for just $45,000 out of the Dominican Republic, but has steadily made progress through the system. Now just 22, he has a 4.03 ERA in 29 innings for AA Northwest Arkansas after putting up a 2.14 ERA in six starts for High A Wilmington. He has struck out nearly a hitter-per-inning in his career without terrible walk numbers. Fernandez has struggled with his breaking ball at times, and could profile more as a reliever.

In honor of the White Sox getting a stupid new stadium name, here are 10 others, just as bad or worse.

www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1085074-10-worst-stadium-names-in-sports

Johnny Cueto channeled his inner Happy Gilmore last night.

Billy Butler. Being a problem child is nothing new apparently.

Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger detailed some of the thoughts of Royals employees about Billy Butler on “The Border Patrol” on 810 WHB yesterday.


Danny Valencia and Billy Butler have some of the strongest mixed feelings about them of recent Royals....

Billy Butler was thought of by a lot of guys he played with, as being selfish, of being happy if he goes 2-for-4 with a double and the Royals lost 5-3. He had a little bit - what’s the right term - a “me-first” deal....

Even guys who don’t like Billy Butler will say he’s harmless, he means well, he has a good heart. But there were parts of him that came across as too much, like “shut the blank up, you never stop talking, just let it go.”...

When I see that Danny Valencia and Billy Butler are getting in a fight, I imagine that there are, metaphorically speaking, Royals employees surrounding the cage throwing money and taking bets and hoping for a long fight.

Lee Judge of the Kansas City Star chimed in as well.


As for Billy Butler: a lot of fans love him, but a lot of teammates found him annoying. At times Billy could be obsessed with his own stats and didn’t have the best social skills, which is a bad combination. But if a guy hits, teams and teammates will put up with a lot; if the guys stops hitting, teams and teammates are less forgiving.




On “The Drive” on 610 Sports, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports adds that Billy’s problems stemmed from a lack of self-awareness.


Billy Butler is a guy who just doesn’t know what he is. He thought he was a leader in Kansas City. And he was the furthest thing from it. He considered himself like a veteran clubhouse leader because “veteran” and “clubhouse leader” tend to be used in the same sentence and he thought that those two things went hand-in-hand when there was no leadership there. Billy is a guy whose lack of self-awareness tends to get in the way.

Passan mentions that Billy has been teased quite a bit in clubhouses.


Billy Butler no matter where he’s been has been picked on, he’s been bullied. In some respects I felt bad for him for that. He’ll take it, and he’ll take it, and he’ll take it, and he’ll do it with a smile on his face, but then he will crack back in a completely untoward unaccepted way, and that’s how he ends up getting punched in the face.....

He was the butt of jokes and he always smiled about it and laughed about it but I don’t think he took it well. “Bill you’re fat, Bill you’re dumb.”....I got a sense it bothered him and I don’t blame him for it.

Dayton Moore reportedly tried to trade Billy Butler early on his career for Yuniesky Betancourt (Moore would later acquire Betancourt for prospects). The team benched him his final season in Kansas City and made little attempt to bring him back. At the time it seemed like Moore just didn’t appreciate Billy’s skillset as a slow, on-base machine who never developed the kind of power you might expect from a player like him. However, in the light of these clubhouse revelations, its probably more likely that the Royals were just sick of Billy’s act, and when he wasn’t hitting, it became much less tolerable.

Billy Butler still has many fans and supporters in Kansas City, and what happens behind clubhouse doors should not really affect fan perception of a player much. But it should help us understand why certain moves were made, and it seems the Royals were better off parting ways with Billy.

Funny

I heard Danny Valencia is the hated teammate

And that why he never lasts on one team

Scherzer

Opponents batting .173 against him


Good Lawd

Has Polanco's batting average been in a steady decline since game 45? If not then you can't really compare the two because JBJ hasn't bottomed out yet.