Who was the Kansas City Royals’ breakout player for 2025? The AL Central team, despite not making the playoffs, was in a good position to have a few solid choices in that area.
Third baseman Maikel Garcia cashed in on his breakout season with a lengthy extension, while pitcher Noah Cameron was the top pitcher in the AL Rookie of the Year race after stepping into the Royals rotation. Both players were in the organizational picture, but have much bigger roles and more fan recognition heading into 2026.
A prospect breaking out feels much harder to forecast, and can still leave the ultimate goal a ways away. Outfielder Jac Caglianone tore through the minors but struggled in the big leagues in his first full professional season. Catcher Carter Jensen is unquestionably Kansas City’s top prospect after his strong September, but even his breakout at the plate only led to a handful of plate appearances and an unclear role in 2026.
Still, both breakouts at least led to those players being considered building blocks for Kansas City’s future, putting them alongside the likes of Garcia and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Those breakout campaigns can only start once the season does, but Baseball America took it upon themselves to see what numbers from 2025 could spell success for a player in 2026. Specifically, they looked at players “whose surface stats this season don’t align with their underlying data, indicating they are bounce-back candidates or could take a step forward in 2026.”
The Royals have plenty of batting prospects who could stand to bounce back, but Baseball America’s selection for Kansas City features a player completely off the radar in outfielder Henry Ramos.
The Royals need outfield prospects, and Henry Ramos may be a resurgent candidate.
Ramos is so far off the radar, Baseball America did not even have a formal scouting report for him. In the article, they linked to former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Henry Ramos; that is how unknown this Ramos is.
The 21-year-old Dominican got his first taste of Low-A baseball in 2025 and was not an overtly exciting box score performer. Even though the 12.3% walk rate to 21.7% strikeout rate is a good spot for a prospect, his lack of power and extra-base hitting kept him in low regard.
Across 73 games with the Columbia Fireflies, Ramos had just 12 extra-base hits for a .073 ISO. But Baseball America believes there is more in Ramos’ bat.
“Ramos’ underlying data suggests he has more power potential than he showed in 2025. His 90th percentile exit velocity was 104.5 mph and his max EV was 111.7 mph—numbers well above-average for his age and level and substantial increases from 2024. His overall contact rate was slightly above-average, too, at 73%, indicating he has the potential to make enough contact to allow him to tap into his raw power if he can make adjustments with his batted-ball angles. Ramos’ air-pull and barrel rates were both below average in 2025, and he had a 56% groundball rate.”
Baseball America
The publicly available data for Low-A, especially in the Carolina League, is lacking. But those batted-ball numbers are promising and do shed light on a player who could be a tweak or two away from being a more highly regarded prospect.
Ramos has never been a superb home run producer, but he did garner 50-grade power from MLB Pipeline, which ranked him the 45th-best prospect in the 2022 international free agent class.
Ramos has never been a top-30 Royals prospect on any notable list, but that could change in 2026. For now, he is likely heading back to Columbia for another season with the Fireflies and can try turning those batted-ball numbers into box score production next season.
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