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Asa Lacy

Royals Add Asa Lacy, Carlos Hernandez To Player Pool

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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.

Royals Sign Asa Lacy & Rest Of Draft Class

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7:09pm: Lacy signed for $6.67MM, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets.

2:13pm: The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve officially signed left-hander Asa Lacy. The former Texas A&M ace was the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft after compiling a career 2.07 ERA with 13.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 152 total innings of college ball (21 starts, 21 relief appearances). He’s the highest pick to come to terms so far, and while his bonus figure wasn’t announced by the club, the No. 4 slot comes with a $6.664MM value.

The Kansas City organization didn’t stop there. It also added shortstop Nick Loftin on a $3MM bonus, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. That’s a far sight higher than the $2,257,300 allocation that came with the competitive balance round A selection with which he was chosen. Loftin decided to go pro rather than returning for another year at Baylor.

Righty Ben Hernandez, an Illinois high-schooler chosen in the second round, agreed to a $1.45MM bonus. (Via Callis; Twitter links.) That freed up nearly $400K to help cover the amount due to Loftin. The Royals also saved a bit on third-rounder Tyler Gentry, an outfielder out of the University of Alabama, who inked for $750K ($818,200 slot value). The Royals also agreed to as-yet-unreported bonuses with Christian Chamberlain, LHP, Oregon State (4th round) and Will Klein, RHP, Eastern Illinois (5th round).

The Royals also announced seven undrafted player signings, rounding out a widely heralded incoming class of amateur talent:

While there’s plenty of promise from multiple new prospects, Lacy remains the crown jewel. He was the consensus top pitcher available, which made it rather surprising to see him fall to the Royals at the fourth selection. Virtually all draft pundits graded him as one of the three best prospects up for grabs in 2020.

The Royals will be especially excited with Lacy because of the team’s long-stated intention to engineer a quick rebuild. Having gone heavy on advanced college pitching prospects in recent drafts, with promising early returns, the K.C. club can now look forward to another fast-rising youngster. Lacy possesses and commands an impressive four-pitch arsenal and has already proven himself against top college competition.

Amateur Draft Notes: Torkelson, Wilcox, Mock Drafts

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The first round of the 2020 amateur draft begins on June 10, and the growing feeling is that the Tigers will take Spencer Torkelson with the first overall pick.  Torkelson comes into the draft on the heels of an outstanding college career, which Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill notes could have reached historic proportions had Torkelson’s 2020 campaign not been cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The young slugger had a shot at breaking the NCAA record for walks in a season, and Torkelson sat just two home runs away from setting a new Arizona State school record for career homers (a record held by longtime Braves third baseman Bob Horner).  Though Torkelson will miss out on these individual accomplishments and a shot at being part of a potential national championship contender, his Arizona State tenure has already been the stuff of legend, especially considering that Torkelson came to the program on a relatively low profile after not being drafted by a Major League team when coming out of high school.

Some more on the draft…

  • The NCAA’s decision to give an extra year of eligibility to spring sports will give at least some players extra signing leverage in this abbreviated five-round draft.  As The Athletic’s David O’Brien (subscription required) writes, right-hander Cole Wilcox has the option of returning to the University of Georgia for a do-over of his sophomore year if doesn’t receive a signing bonus to his liking, which “some in the industry believe” is a “top-half-of-first-round” asking price.  (So, in the neighborhood of $4MM, based on the recommended slot prices.)  It isn’t out of the question that the hard-throwing Wilcox is selected within the top 15 anyway based on his strong track record at Georgia, though many prognosticators have the righty in the bottom half of the first round.
  • Speaking of prognostication, let’s give into some mock draft action!  The latest projections are up from The Athletic’s Keith Law (subscription required), Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo, and MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, and all have identical top threes: Torkelson to the Tigers, Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin to the Orioles with the second overall pick, and Texas A&M southpaw Asa Lacy to the Marlins third overall.  Assuming Detroit does take Torkelson, the O’s are favored to select Martin or at least another position player — Collazo and Callis note that Baltimore could opt to take New Mexico State infielder Nick Gonzales, while Law has heard “rumblings” that Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad could be the pick if the Orioles wanted to spread around their draft pool money.
  • All three mock drafts are well worth a read, as Law, Collazo, and Callis share some reports and rumors about which prospects could be on various teams’ radars, and what particular teams may or may not be targeting on their draft boards.  For instance, the Royals (who pick fourth overall) seem to be leaning towards picking a position player this after focusing on adding pitchers in recent drafts, which could lead them to Gonzales or Florida high school outfielder Zac Veen.  Callis has K.C. taking Gonzales while Collazo and Law have the Royals taking Veen, with Law adding that he has “heard they’re cool on Gonzales.”  Then again, a pitcher might not be out of the question either for Kansas City, as Collazo writes “lately, we’ve also heard Minnesota right-hander Max Meyer linked to this pick.”  As for Wilcox’s placement, Callis projects the Mets (19th overall), Law projects the Nationals (22nd), and Collazo projects the Yankees (28th).
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