Down on the Farm, KC style

[SubGod22]

Royals sign Jason Kendall to a Minor League contract LMAO

Looks like he's been signed to go to AA and help with pitcher development. If that's the case, I have no problems with it. Kendall is a good guy that was once a hell of a catcher and could bring a lot of knowledge to the young pitchers. Perhaps this is a way for him to see if coaching may be in his future as well. I'm ok with it. He knows he's not going to play in KC.

[SubGod22]

Essentially, he's down there to be Crash Davis. Only difference is he's had more than a cup of coffee.

[SubGod22]

Omaha Defeated by OKC, 9-8, on Thursday

OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha Storm Chasers were swept in a four-game series as they were topped by the Oklahoma City RedHawks, 9-8, in front of 6,888 fans at Werner Park on Thursday night. Omaha made it interesting as they came within a run of tying Oklahoma City after entering the bottom of the seventh trailing 9-3. Clint Robinson, Adam Moore and Johnny Giavotella all homered in Thursday's loss. The setback was the Chasers' fifth home loss in a row.

Naturals Stop Streak

Mike Montgomery (1-1) worked around three Naturals' errors to pick up his first Double-A win of the season. The left-hander went six and a third innings allowing five hits and four runs, three of which were earned. Ariel Pena (5-6) took the loss for the Travelers working five and two-thirds inning and allowing five runs.

Ventura to start
Royals Sign Jason Kendall (And Other Thoughts)

Kendall is being assigned to Double A Northwest Arkansas and prevailing thought will have him in a player/coach role while he works with young pitchers there like Mike Montgomery and Yordano Ventura. I wish I were the first to suggest it, but he’ll play a sort of Crash Davis role to a slew of Nuke Laloosh throwers.

HENDRICKS OUTDUELS ADAMS

Adam (2-10) had allowed a pair of two-out baserunners on a bruise and a single through four innings of work. Then came the fifth when he followed a four-pitch walk of Edwin Garcia by giving up his league-worst 15th home run of the year to the light-hitting Santiago Chirino. The two-run poke got over the short porch in left field for a 2-0 deficit, one the Rocks would not overcome.

Pimentel will start. Pelicans pitcher had a perfect game into the 5th and a no hitter into the 8th. Adam doesn't get much help.

KC had their game suspended last night due to rain and will finish it this afternoon, followed by an evening game.

Homers Back Selman in 4-3 Chukars Win

Selman (3-0) would earn the win for the Chukars as he held the Brewers to just one run on two hits over his season high six innings pitched, striking out a career high 10 batters along the way

Royals hold on for fourth straight win

The Royals got started early with the bats. Bubba Starling belted his third home run of the season in the first inning off of first-round righty Lucas Sims. Starling's homer to left was his first at home, but all three of his home runs have come against Danville.

AZL won 10-6

DSL won 9-6 in 10.

Diamonds in the Rough 7.19
POD - Jason Adam
HOD - Tony Abreu
RLPOD - Sam Selman

[SubGod22]

Another one bites the dust....Greg Billo To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

[SubGod22]

Irving Falu has 4 hits to pace 15-hit attack against five pitchers

Round Rock, TX - Anthony Seratelli homered and drove in three runs to power Omaha past Round Rock, 10-4, Friday night in the opener of a four-game set at the Dell Diamond. The Storm Chasers stopped a season-high five-game slide and improved to 59-41 overall with their 11th victory in 13 meetings with the Express this season.

Springfield scores late to top Naturals

Ventura went a Double-A career high five and two-thirds innings allowing just one hit, and one unearned run. The right-hander issued five walks and also fanned five Cardinals hitters.

TBD

ROCKS SNAP SKID, BEAT SALEM

Salem, VA - The pitching dominated early while the offense came in volume late as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (52-56, 13-15) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-1 defeat of the Salem Red Sox (51-46, 10-18) on Friday night. Starter Elisaul Pimentel (2-1) flirted with perfection over seven sterling innings for his second straight win and the Blue Crew hung five of its runs on reliever Charle Rosario over the game's last three innings

Riddings to start

KC lost 5-8 and 1-5

Helena Hampers Chukars Bats in 5-2 Loss

Burlington won 7-5

AZL lost 2-5

DSL was suspended

Diamonds in the Rough 7.20
POD - Elisaul Pimentel
HOD - Irving Falu
RLPOD - Mark Threlkeld

[SubGod22]

Omah continues to dominate season series with Round Rock

Dwyer yielded two runs on six hits, walked three and struck out three to earn his first Triple-A win. Roman Colon took over and was sensational, retiring all nine hitters he faced, including five with a strikeout, to record his sixth save and help Omaha improve to 24-22 on the road.

Express recover from one-time six-run deficit to stun Storm Chasers

Storm Chasers starter Doug Davis uncorked a wild pitch that allowed a run to score in the sixth that made it a 7-2 contest but worked his way out of the frame by retiring the last two hitters he faced. The veteran southpaw allowed just one earned run on four hits while walking three and fanning five before giving way to Tommy Hottovy, who followed with two hitless, scoreless innings.

Verdugo starts tonight.

Perez home run does in Naturals
Cardinals use three home runs to top Naturals

Marimon (1-3) settled in after the first inning and threw four more scoreless frames. The right-hander worked five innings in all allowing just four hits and four runs, while walking two and striking out four.

Mariot starts this evening.

BLUE ROCKS BASH RED SOX

Orlando Calixte doubled three times and drove in three runs to key the offense. That included a first-inning knock for a quick 1-0 lead. But Salem would respond. Sean Coyle's single tied the game in the second and Travis Shaw's team-leading 16th homer an inning later put the Rocks down, 2-1.

THREE-RUN FOURTH FUELS WILMINGTON

With the game tied at one entering the fourth inning, Wilmington had three consecutive men reach base to bring home a trio of runs. Orlando Calixte started things with a single to left off Salem starter Miguel Celestino. Cheslor Cuthbert then smashed a double to right to make the lead 2-1 in favor of the Rocks. Moments later, Matt Fields bombed his 10th home run, this one a shot to left field, boosting the lead to 4-1.

Ferguson gets the nod

KC won 9-1 Saturday with Kyle Smith on the bump.
Cougars Belt 3 Homers, Top Dragons 6-2

Dayton, Ohio-Jorge Bonifacio drilled two home runs and drove in four runs to lead the Kane County Cougars to a 6-2 victory over the Dayton Dragons on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 8,343 at Fifth Third Field. The loss dropped the Dragons to 10-19 in the second half.

Kane County starting pitcher Aaron Brooks was outstanding. He retired 16 straight batters over one stretch beginning with the final out of the second and continuing through the seventh inning. Brooks (8-9) faced three batters in the eighth and left with the lead to earn the victory. He allowed six hits and two runs with no walks and six strikeouts.

Pen and Shin Lead Chukars to 6-3 Win
Doesn't seem to matter what time I do this, as there's no article for yesterdays 8-7 win...

Diekroeger, Threlkeld help secure fifth straight win

Mark Threlkeld, who had arguably his best offensive game of the season, gave Burlington its first lead in the sixth inning. The first baseman hit a two-run home run over the left field wall, giving the Royals a 5-3 lead. Threlkeld finished the night at 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run.

Royals capture 10th straight at home

Cameron Gallagher led off Burlington's big inning with a double. After a walk and a strikeout, Mark Threlkeld and Terrance Gore delivered back-to-back two-baggers. Humberto Arteaga followed up with a triple to right-center before Patrick Leonard homered to complete that inning's damage. Leonard's home run helped him regain sole possession of first place in the Appalachian League home run race. He now has nine on the year.

AZL won 5-0 Saturday and had Sunday off.

DSL lost 2-6

Diamonds in the Rough 7.21
POD - Kyle Smith
HOD - Daniel Mateo
RLPOD - Kyle Zimmer
Diamonds in the Rough 7.22
POD - Aaron Brooks
HOD - Jorge Bonifacio
RLPOD - Humberto Arteaga
The Starting 9 - Some very encouraging notes. Zimmer and Selman may both be moving to Kane County soon.
Royals Prospect Reports: Jason Adam And Elisaul Pimentel
Royals Prospect Reports: Sugar Ray, Yordano Ventura and Tyler Sample

[SubGod22]

Rodgers, B-Royals one-hit Astros

With the victory, Rodgers improved to 3-0 with a 0.73 ERA, best in the Appy League. All three wins have come in his last three outings, during which he's owned a 16-inning scoreless streak and allowed only two hits and three walks.

The bulk of those results have come from just one pitch.

"It's mainly been my fastball," said the Louisiana native. "I just try to work both sides of the plate with it as much as I can and then use the changeup maybe to keep guys off balance. I didn't have my curveball tonight because I couldn't get it down after it started raining [in the middle of the game]." But the Royals did select Rodgers in the third round of this year's First-Year Player Draft because of his ability to mix his trio of pitches

This kid has had a great start.

Top pick Zimmer already being promoted

ANAHEIM -- Right-hander Kyle Zimmer, the Royals' top Draft choice this year, has been promoted to Class A Kane County.
Zimmer pitched three games in the Rookie classification Arizona League, allowing just one run on five hits in 10 innings, for a 0.90 ERA. He also had 13 strikeouts and no walks.

I think he'll finish in KC and start next year in Wilmington. If successful early, he'll get a quick promotion to NWA and end up with a shot at the rotation, or Omaha, in '14. I'm not sure they'd move him to Wilmington late this year with a shot at NWA next.

[SubGod22]

Chasers Finish Off Round Rock

Verdugo, making his first start with Omaha since July 5, departed after allowing four hits while walking two and matching a season-high with eight strikeouts to beat the Express for a third time in as many starts. Vin Mazzaro followed with three scoreless frames, yielding two hits, issuing one walk and recording a pair of strikeouts to nail down the second save of his professional career.

Odorizzi takes the hill tonight

Cards rally late to top Naturals

Michael Mariot settled down after giving up the home run to Scruggs in the first inning. The right-hander threw seven innings allowing eight hits and two runs, while walking one and striking out three.

Monty throws

BIG INNINGS DOOM ROCKS

Matt Fields homered for the 11th time in 21 ballgames. He is now tied for the team lead with Brett Eibner. By comparison, it took Eibner 73 games to reach that mark. If he keeps bashing at the current pace he is currently on, he will end up with approximately 26 homers for the season. Only three Blue Rocks have ever hit 20 or more homers in a season and all three played nearly twice as many games: (Larry Sutton hit 26 over 129 games in 1994; Hugh Walker hit 21 over 126 games in 1993; John Whittleman hit 20 over 123 games last year).

Adam starts tonight

Gerson Keys Dragons 5-1 Win

Kane County's Justin Trapp hit the second pitch of the game for a home run to left field, his eighth of the year, to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. The Dragons battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the first when Jefry Sierra reached on an infield single, raced around to third on a single by Yorman Rodriguez, and scored on Sean Buckley's ground out to tie the game at 1-1.

I don't know who pitches today or tomorrow, but Zimmer is scheduled to start on Thursday for the Cougars.

Chukars won 8-6 yesterday.

One-hit shutout leads to seventh straight win

On the offensive end, the top of Burlington's order did all the damage. Humberto Arteaga tallied a pair of extra-base hits for the second game in a row. He doubled twice, scored twice and knocked in one run. Bubba Starling, who follows Arteaga in the lineup, struck for his fourth home run of the year. The two-run shot to left gives him 15 RBI on the season.

Binford starts today

AZL won 9-4

DSL won 7-5

Diamonds in the Rough 7.23
POD - Ryan Verdugo
HOD - Wil Myers
RLPOD - Jin-Ho Shin
RP Kendal Volz Retires

RHP Kendal Volz, acquired in the Mike Aviles trade last season, has stepped away from the game. The relief pitcher from Baylor was having a solid year for AA NW Arkansas limiting opponents to 1.095 WHIP in 16 appearances before encountering a muscle tear. With the decision to retire the Royals have nothing to show for the Mike Aviles trade other than the two minor leaguers that they acquired for flipping Yamaico Navarro to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Royals Prospect Reports: Brett Eibner and Cheslor Cuthbert - Good analysis in these and an idea on where/how they project
Royals Prospect Reports: Andy Ferguson and Antonio Cruz

[SubGod22]

Jason Kendall announced his retirement today. I'm guessing he'll be on staff somewhere as a coach in the not too distant future.

[SubGod22]

Omaha Improves to 26-23 Away From Home

Odorizzi was lifted after back-to-back two-out singles in the home sixth and followed to the hill by Brandon Sisk, who walked Murphy and Green to force in a run that trimmed the lead back to one before Luke Montz grounded out to end the threat. Odorizzi earned the win to lift his record to 7-1 after yielding three runs, two earned, on four hits while walking two and striking out six.

Adcock scheduled to start

Matthes mashes Naturals

Mike Montgomery (1-2) went five and a third innings for the Naturals allowing nine hits and six runs, while walking one and striking out four

Ventura starts tonight

WEIRD WILMINGTON RUNS RESULT IN VICTORY - Pimentel takes the hill

KC had the day off. Zimmer starts tomorrow!

Chukars lost 2-7

Starling's run in tenth extends Royals' streak

Besides being the offensive difference in the game, Starling turned in a sensational defensive play that potentially saved the game for the Royals. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Astros shortstop Jean Batista hit a fly ball to center. As Starling caught the ball, Michael Martinez tagged up from third and tried to score the tying run. Starling came up throwing and fired the ball on one hop to catcher Alexander Marquez. The Burlington catcher made the catch and tag while absorbing the impact from Martinez who attempted to derail Marquez and jar the ball loose. Marquez held on to record the out, end the inning and maintain the lead.

Burlington is off today

AZL lost 7-9

DSL won 3-2

Diamonds in the Rough 7.24
POD - Jake Odorizzi
HOD - Juan Graterol
RLPOD - Bubba Starling

[RoyalShock]

Either Montgomery is hurt or there's something wrong between the ears. Or both.

[SubGod22]

Either Montgomery is hurt or there's something wrong between the ears. Or both.

I wonder if things would have been different if they'd put him in KC last year rather than starting him in Omaha. He was VERY impressive and many thought he'd earned a spot in the rotation. Did that mess with him mentally and he's never recovered? He was so dominant before that move. Maybe he really wasn't ready. Am still hoping some time with the NWA pitching coach can fix whatever is wrong. But things don't look good.

[RoyalShock]

If you look at his stats, from the moment he hit AA in 2010 his peripheral numbers (WHIP and BB/9) were never very impressive for a guy who supposedly (I've never seen him pitch) had such good stuff. Hovering around 4 BB/9 and having a WHIP of 1.4+ just isn't very good for a major league prospect in the minors.

Compare those WHIP numbers with Duffy (1.2 and below) and Odorizzi (1.3) at the same levels (AA and AAA). Had Monty been promoted to KC I think he'd have been crushed.

[SubGod22]

Wil Myers - Overhyped?

A top prospect is like the backup quarterback in football — always loved by the fans and always have unrealistic expectations put upon them. The Royals have been through this hype machine before, recently by Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, but more prolifically by Alex Gordon back in 2007. It is happening again in the summer of 2012, this time with power hitting outfielder Wil Myers.

The hype surrounding Myers reminds me more of Gordon than it does of Hosmer and Moustakas last year. Not in the “franchise altering” way Gordon was, but in the way expectations are being pushed upon him, and that’s for a variety of reasons. With Hosmer, the Royals had Kila Ka’aihue at first base and the thought was the Royals would give him a little more time before making a change. Hosmer was hitting over .400 in Omaha at the time, but since he was brought up before most expected, the hype machine didn’t have quite enough time to build up a lot of steam. As for Moustakas, the Royals had a very viable alternative in Wilson Betemit already at third base, and Moustakas wasn’t exactly crushing the ball in Omaha.

A lot of factors are coming together with the hype for Wil Myers. First and foremost, Myers is crushing the ball in the minor leagues, as he’s hitting a combined .310/.390/.640 through two stops. Secondly, the position in which Myers projects best at, right field, is currently being employed by who you could argue is the worst everyday position players in the game, Jeff Francouer. Lastly, the Royals are once again in the midst of a disappointing season, and the fans are looking for something that will not only improve the team, but also pump up the fan base.

I get what he's saying, but I don't think it'll be as he thinks.

Chasers wins for sixth time in nine meetings with New Orleans

Giavotella wasted no time extending his hitting streak to 20 games with a first inning double and then scored the game's first run two batters later on a base hit by Clint Robinson. The visitors added a trio of runs in the second on a lead off long ball by Max Ramirez and RBI hits by Giavotella and Robinson against reigning PCL Pitcher of the Week J.D. Martin.

Dwyer will start tonight

Naturals rall falls short

Yordano Ventura (0-2) pitched a gem for the Naturals. The right-hander went a Double-A season long seven innings in his third start for the Naturals. Ventura also struck out a season high seven, allowing just two hits and one run.

I'm optimistic about Ventura. Dennick starts today

PIMENTEL FIRES DANDY IN ROCKS WIN

The righty cruised through his last seven innings of work. He faced one man over the minimum, allowing just two hits and one walk in that time frame, while striking out four Keys swingers.

Riddings starts

Early deficit too much in loss

Justin Trapp helped the Cougars (50-51, 16-15) take the lead in the bottom of the first as he singled and stole second before scoring on a base hit from Danny Mateo. Trapp hit a triple to deep center in the seventh which scored Kenny Swab.

Zimmer pitches today!!!

Chukars won 10-2

Burlington was off yesterday. Caramo starts for the Royals

AZL won 9-4

DSL won 8-4

Diamonds in the Rough 7.25
HOD - Johnny Giavotella
POD - Elisaul Pimentel AND Yordano Ventura
RLPOD - Diego Goris

[RoyalShock]

I have concerns about Myers if he gets called up this season. Have you seen his collection of Golden Sombreros?