Finding Bright Spots in the Royals Future

The Kansas City Royals have officially entered a new phase beginning this winter. Just two years after being crowned World Series Champions, Kansas City is looking at the potential of a complete tear down as this season progresses and a major restock effort of the farm system.

According to Baseball America, the Royals currently have the 2nd worst farm system in the game ahead of only the Seattle Mariners. Back in 2014, Kansas City had the 8th best system followed by the 15th best in 2015. Part of that fallout was due to the graduation of many impact prospects to the big league level and what is known as the "big league cycle." It happens with every team, especially those in a small market, that have a 2-3 year window to be competitive before they have to consider entering the rebuild process.

When this winter first started, the Royals were fully committed to doing everything possible to bring back their franchise icon first baseman, Eric Hosmer, but those efforts fell short when Hosmer later signed with the Padres on an 8-year deal. It's probably a good thing that Kansas City lost out on Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and don't appear likely to land free agent third baseman, Mike Moustakas, simply because they need to start the transition process. Yes, it would be understandable if they wanted to keep one of those three as a franchise cornerstone moving forward, especially Hosmer, but it's time to turn the page and look towards the future.

One of the building blocks that made the Royals so successful was their ability to build a championship caliber club from within through the Amateur and International Drafts. When a team is in a small market, it has to watch its payroll very closely and that is one thing that General Manager, Dayton Moore, has mentioned several times this winter. Moore doesn't want to hamstring the club moving forward so if one of the free agents mentioned above, specifically Eric Hosmer did happen to sign with the club, the team would have had to unload some other assets to bring the payroll to a more comfortable range.

Looking ahead to this season, the Royals will likely battle it out with the Detroit Tigers for last place in the American League Central, but that doesn't mean that there are dark or gloomy days ahead within every aspect of the organization. Rather, there is some talent still on the 25-man roster and a few players that look to make an impact on the big league club this year and moving forward.

Hunter Dozier

One of those players is 26-year old, Hunter Dozier, who has the ability to play first and third base as well as out in right field. Dozier would have been the Royals Opening Day first baseman this year, but the team elected to sign free agent, Lucas Duda, to a one-year contract earlier today to give Dozier more time to develop down in the minors after he dealt with a strained left oblique for much of the season last year.

As it stands right now, Dozier is the third best prospect in the Royals system and his biggest selling point relates to his offensive potential. During the past two seasons, Dozier has seen his strikeout rate go from 29% of the time down to 23%. Over the span of 2,047 plate appearances during the past 5 seasons in the minors, Dozier has a .432 slugging percentage along with 471 hits, 54 home runs, and 253 RBI. He does possess 487 strikeouts over that period, but as stated before, Dozier is working on his plate discipline and should continue to see a decline in that percentage moving forward.

Jorge Bonifacio

Beyond Dozier, another player to watch in the future is 24-year old right fielder, Jorge Bonifacio. Bonifacio is sort of in a limbo for playing time due to the fact that Jorge Soler, Paulo Orlando, and Whit Merrifield can all play over in right field, but Kansas City could always make room for him moving forward by moving one of either Paulo Orlando or Jorge Soler. As is the case with Dozier, Bonifacio has the potential for a lot of power and his biggest selling point is his bat.

Last year in 113 games at the big league level, Bonifacio hit: .255/.320/.423 with 98 hits, 17 home runs, 40 RBI, and 35 walks. The one downfall for Bonifacio, as is the case with Dozier, is his strikeout rate which he recorded 118 of last season at the big league level. However, considering that Bonifacio is still only 24-years old, he could still be part of the next great Royals core that comes up through the system.

Trevor Oaks

Moving to the pitching side of things now, the most intriguing name to watch is probably Trevor Oaks, who the Royals acquired from the Dodgers, this winter. Oaks is currently the 19th best prospect in the Royals system and scouts note that a lot of his success to this point has been courtesy of his heavy sinker ball. Oaks is able to throw his sinker ball on both sides of the plate and has hit the mid-90s with it ever since starting out in the minors.

While Oaks had Tommy John surgery in high school, many scouts believe that he can be a successful back of the rotation starting pitcher and that is a good thing for the Royals moving forward. Dating back to 2014, Oaks has put up a 3.27 ERA over 404.0 IP with a 0.49 home runs-per-9 rate and a 1.60 walks-per-9 rate. Both of those should be great selling points for the Royals to use Oaks moving forward and as they look to him to eat up innings when they matter the most.

Although the Royals have entered a new phase within their franchise and have moved down in the power rankings from a couple of years ago, they have some bright spots and with the right scouting procedures put into place, they can find themselves playing relevant baseball again in a few years. Along the way, Kansas City will likely need to move some of the bigger named assets that they currently possess, but that will only help contribute towards the next great future core of Royals and put the organization in a good spot come the end of the rebuild process.