The Royals have added left-hander Asa Lacy and right-hander Carlos Hernandez to their 60-man player pool and assigned the pair to their alternate training site, per a club announcement.
Lacy is the bigger name of the two, having been selected with the fourth overall pick of the 2020 draft. Though he was the second pitcher taken — Miami selected University of Minnesota righty Max Meyer one pick earlier — Lacy was considered by many to be the top overall pitching prospect in the draft. The Texas A&M ace overwhelmed SEC hitters during his NCAA career, pitching to a cumulative 2.07 ERA with 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Lacy was off to a blazing start in 2020, having pitched to a 0.75 ERA with an outrageous 46-to-8 K/BB ratio in just 24 innings when the season came to a halt (17.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9).
Given his status as an elite college arm, there might be some fans who hope to see him in the big leagues as soon as 2020, although that still seems decidedly improbable. He’s a huge part of the Royals’ future and immediately became one of the organization’s top three prospects upon signing, but this is quite likely a developmental assignment for the 21-year-old. Kansas City has several prominent pitching prospects who are closer to the big leagues but have yet to receive their first promotion — most notably Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch. Top prospects Brady Singer and Kris Bubic have already debuted in 2020.
Hernandez, 23, is already on the Royals’ 40-man roster, so there’s a bit more of a chance that he’d see the big leagues this season, although that’s also a long shot. He’s never pitched above A-ball and has just 36 innings of experience at that level, although they were sharp ones. Hernandez missed a big chunk of last season while waiting on a fractured rib to mend, but once healthy he turned in a 3.50 ERA with 10.8 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 1.25 HR/9 and a 39.1 percent grounder rate in the Class-A South Atlantic League. MLB.com ranks him 12th among K.C. farmhands, noting that his velocity jumped into the upper 90s last season and also praising his potentially above-average curveball. The alternate camp assignment will give him some additional developmental time in the absence of a traditional minor league season in 2020.
Lacy will be a star pitcher as long as he stays healthy. His stuff is nasty. KC has a lot of young pitching to work with.
KC is doing this right. They have a ton of quality young arms and the time to let all of them develop since they aren’t in win now mode. Give it a few years and that rotation will be nasty.
Atlanta should be doing the same thing given all their pitching injuries.
I agree. Tucker Davidson and Ian Anderson. Bryce Wilson will be a good pitcher one day but he has to settle down some.
KC’s rebuild is starting to come to fruition. Maybe not this year, but they’re on their way!
This year is equivalent to the 2012 Royals, still bad but with talent and prone to long winning and long losing streaks. If I remember correctly in 2012 we had three 9 game losing streaks and a 9 game winning streaks. Young talent but inconsistent performance. Next year will be 2013 where the Royals started to put it together and flirted with the wild card in September (not seriously, but were still mathematically in contention in September which for them at the time was amazing. I think they finished 80-82 in 2013. Everybody knows what happened next,
i’m hoping just short of playoffs with a decent record, but crazier things have happened!
gotta wonder if KC can shock and contend next year. that rotation is already coming along and there are some nice young lineup pieces as well. they can make some noise next year if they make a splash in free agency. someone like Springer maybe?
id wonder too if they make the move for Salvy’s replacement in JT.
There are two things wrong with that statement.
1. The Royals are a small market team. No way can they afford arguably the best catcher in baseball.
2. Salvy is a fan favorite. Baseball is a business and Salvy brings in fans. The Royals getting rid of Salvy is like the Yankees getting rid of Aaron Judge. It’s a move that just makes no sense.
that or they pay up to extend Salvy, because he’s a free agent after the 2021 season. and small market or not, theyre not the Pirates. (who, ironically, gave their biggest commitment to another big name catcher) its not like JT is getting 400 million or likely even half that.
I like the thinking of getting JT. He fits that ballpark. Honestly I think phillies will sign him but I think they be better off trading him. They need money to fix the pitching(Arrieta) contract ends this year which is a +