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The trade deadline is coming next week, but one good thing about the Royals having played so poorly is that we can still dream on all the prospects in their system because none of them are going anywhere. We might even have a new favorite next week! But until then, it should be fun to talk about who our favorites currently are.
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Kendry Chourio gets a lot of the love lately for being an exceptional young pitcher – still a teenager in High-A! – who throws hard and throws strikes. That’s a combination it can be difficult to find, and those are two of the requirements when you’re looking for the next Cam Schlittler or Jacob Misiorowski. I’m not promising Chourio will be as good as either of them, but he might be the only guy in the system with even a remote chance.
Zion Rose just got taken sixth overall in the MLB Draft, so he hasn’t played a professional inning yet. But he’s drawing rave reviews from some scouts and analysts, including Keith Law, who says that Rose had a top-10 bat and was held back on draft boards for his defense. But his speed and work ethic indicate he could be a guy who could figure out the glove side of the ball, too.
Blake Mitchell was the first first-round draft pick taken after J.J. Picollo became the general manager, but before Brian Bridges had joined the team. It was a risky pick considering Kyle Teel was right there, but the Royals are still hoping it could pay off. Mitchell has become a three-true-outcomes monster in the minors, striking out more than 1/3 of the time, but walking more than 1/5 of the time, and crushing 17 dingers – tied for fifteenth in High-A.
Josh Hammond is a 2025 draftee who is doing quite well for himself in Low-A as a 19-year-old. For that reason, he’s jumped onto FanGraphs’ updated 2026 top 100 prospects. He’s playing a lot of shortstop right now, but he’ll probably move to third base sooner rather than later. He’s only whacked 5 home runs in 87 games, but he was always projected as a power-over-hit guy, so you have to imagine the power will come as he matures.
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David Shields would be the apple of many eyes in the Royals’ farm system were it not for Chourio. But Shields is a lefty who doesn’t throw quite as hard, though he’s equally adept at throwing strikes and less than a year older than Chourio. He’s the only one in this group who made neither the FanGraphs top-100 nor their honorable mentions because of it. There’s still hope he could add some velocity as he matures, but even if he doesn’t, the stuff and strikes seem like they’ll eventually be playable in the big leagues.
If there was one guy in the Royals’ farm system I would want to highlight that isn’t among those top 5, it’s probably Angeibel Gomez. Gomez was an international free agent signed in January. He’s already jumped onto FanGraphs’ top-100 at 84, and he’s yet to make it stateside. Like Chourio before him, he’s getting a lot of hype that we don’t normally get for prospects who haven’t yet debuted in at least the complex leagues. He walks more than he strikes out, his BABIP is only two points higher than his .346 batting average, and he’s whacked 6 homers and stolen 12 bases in only 33 games. You don’t want to read too much into DSL numbers, but all signs are pointing up for the Venezuelan 17-year-old.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
