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The Kansas City Royals once held a farm system that was once considered barren of talent. However, no it’s loaded with talent throughout each level.<\/p>\n
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As the regular season winds down for the Royals, it\u2019s not a bad time to take a peek at the young men who are grabbing the attention in the Royals farm ranks, and one day hopefully MLB headlines.<\/p>\n
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Omaha was missing some juice and excitement once Jac Caglianone graduated, but Carter Jensen has come in and immediately filled some of that void. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The young backstop – and No. 2 overall Royals prospect according to MLB Pipeline<\/a> – started the year at Double-A, and figured to spend all of 2025 there. Jensen showed enough improvement at the plate to earn his spot in Omaha, and he hasn\u2019t disappointed<\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Have a day, Carter Jensen \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n He has three hits tonight: A triple, double and now a homer \ud83d\ude0f pic.twitter.com\/QDC67v7hwP<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Omaha Storm Chasers (@OMAStormChasers) August 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019s hitting .255\/.367\/.559 with a .926 OPS that would rank him 8th in the international league if he had enough plate appearances. The Royals want to continue to see him work better counts, and his 15% walk rate at AAA compared to his 9.7% walk rate at AA is a step in the right direction. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the bump, a name you\u2019ll want to keep tabs on is Steven Kolek. The Royals just traded for him as part of the Freddy Fermin trade<\/a>, also bringing Ryan Bergert over from the Padres.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kolek brings MLB experience to Omaha with 95 career strikeouts in 126.1 innings. With the injuries to Michael Lorenzen, Cole Ragans, and Kris Bubic, the Royals made it necessary to grab some insurance arms for the stretch run and into 2026.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019s not a guy that will blow you away with velocity; his fastball only averages 94 mph, but he misses barrels, and his ground ball rate is in the 83rd percentile according to Baseball Savant<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His slider is his best offering with hitters only managing a .228 average against it. It\u2019s the pitch he gets the most whiffs on at 24.3%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roccaforte has been a familiar name to die-hard Royals fans as the organization’s best defensive center field prospect. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But this season, the Royals’ No. 20 overall prospect,<\/a> found another level at the plate that\u2019s raised his floor quite a bit. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another two-hit game, another RBI double for Carson Roccaforte. pic.twitter.com\/xfTgWQk9sS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Preston Farr (@royalsminors) August 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n <\/p>\n Prior to this year, Roccaforte wasn\u2019t known for his power. The highest SLG he had in Low-A ball in Columbia was .356 in 2023.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019s figured something out in 2025 and has slugged .467 across High-A and Double-A, including belting his first homer in the upper minors<\/a> last week..<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He’s not someone you’ll find in the Royals’ top 30 prospect list, but he’s undoubtedly been one of their best pitchers at any level. The Royals’ 5th round pick out of Tennessee in 2024, he was named Quad Cities pitcher of the month in June<\/a>, and has dominated hitters in his first full season of pro ball.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He doesn’t blow you away with velocity on the radar gun. He’ll sit in the low 90s with his fastball, but he has a funky sidearm delivery that hitters have yet to solve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Causey had an 8-2 record with a stingy 1.56 ERA in 40.1 innings at High-A Quad Cities. He was promoted to Double-A on July 8th and hasn’t skipped a beat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He pitched two shutout innings of work with four strikeouts in his Northwest Arkansas debut. He’s only allowed a .192 average and a 1.20 ERA while striking out 15 batters in 15 innings. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The University of Tennessee has churned out some damn good pitchers in the last few years (the Royals also drafted Drew Beam, who was on the same college staff as Causey), and you can add Causey to the list.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He has the look of a high-leverage bullpen arm in the future, especially if there’s more velocity to unlock as he matures. He’s only 22-years-old and will look to continue to keep hitters at bay at Triple-A next year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s no shock that Royals fans need to watch their top ranked prospect in their system<\/a> as he continues to take the field in Quad City.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After missing a large portion of the 2025 campaign due to be placed on the IL on April 4, Mitchell has handled his return to action well. While his batting average may not be anything special at .227, he’s still posted a respectable .734 OPS and an above average 119 wRC+ in Quad City.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blake Mitchell is officially BACK! \ud83d\udca5<\/p>\n The Royals\u2019 No. 2 prospect checks off his first High-A homer on his season\u2019s first hit!#RoadToRoyalty<\/a>\ud83e\udd9d pic.twitter.com\/9bkHqF0Uww<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Quad Cities River Bandits (@QCRiverBandits) July 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n <\/p>\n Then there’s always the fact that he has an incredibly strong arm at the dish and his 55 future value on his fielding tool that make such a complete prospect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His 30.5% strikeout rate is probably the biggest knock against him at the moment, but if he figures out a way to reduce the swing and miss, he’ll further solidify himself as the potential future behind the plate in Kansas City.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arronde has been on the Royals’ top prospect list for a couple of seasons now. He first caught the Royals’ eyes when he arrived stateside in 2023 and pitched to a 1.85 in rookie ball. He\u2019s never looked back since.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He had a 2.94 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 110.1 innings in Low-A in 2024, and that was enough to earn a promotion to High-A in 2025.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019s been just as good in Quad Cities as he was in Columbia with a 2.50 ERA and a 44.3% ground ball rate. He\u2019s using that high ground ball rate to his advantage, as his strikeout numbers have dipped from last year. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n His fastball sits 93-94, but it\u2019s his split-finger changeup that graded out as his best secondary offering. Sitting in the low 80s, he gets a lot of weak contact off that pitch. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019s 22, so he\u2019s still a couple of years away from Kansas City. He could be a candidate for the back end of the rotation in 2027. If the Royals want to fast-track him to the majors, his split-finger change could be a valuable weapon in the bullpen. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chourio is the teenaged sensation who’s blown up on the scene<\/a> in the last month and has drawn comparisons to Yordano Ventura from some baseball analysts. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 17-year-old Chourio has generated a ton of buzz around the system for how advanced he has looked in the short span we\u2019ve seen him. He dominated Rookie ball in the Dominican Summer League (2.04 ERA) and the Arizona Complex League (2.45 ERA), but has found some turbulence in Low-A.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Left turn back to dugout, courtesy of Kendry Chourio. #RaisingRoyals<\/a>\ud83d\udc51 pic.twitter.com\/oc7xUSXHKT<\/a><\/p>\n\n
RHP- Stephen Kolek<\/h3>\n
1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch in Double-A Northwest Arkansas<\/h2>\n
OF – Carson Roccaforte<\/h3>\n
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RHP- A.J. Causey<\/h3>\n
1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch at High-A Quad City<\/h2>\n
C – Blake Mitchell<\/h3>\n
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RHP- Felix Arronde<\/h3>\n
1 hitter and 1 pitcher to watch at Low-A Columbia<\/h2>\n
RHP- Kendry Chourio<\/h3>\n
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