Why the Kansas City Royals put Witt at Double-A + a look at their other minor-leaguers
Early on during the Kansas City Royals’ spring training camp in Arizona, top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. expressed confidence in the way the organization handled his professional career through the pandemic year that derailed the minor leagues.
“Just from being two years ago a high school kid to now being here (at major-league camp), I think what the Royals have done for me, and just for everyone I’ve seen, is they really take in and factor developing their players,” Witt told The Star in a one-on-one interview in March. “I feel like that’s what they’ve done with me, and I’m really excited for what’s to come.”
Witt is the organization’s top prospect and one of the most highly regarded young players in the game. His development has been heavily discussed in and around the organization since the Royals selected him second overall in the 2019 MLB Draft.
Until the start of the minor-league season Tuesday night, Witt hadn’t played in a regular-season game above the Rookie League level. The Royals nevertheless strongly considered placing him on their major-league roster right out of spring training.
Instead, Witt — the No. 13 prospect in the minors, according to the latest Baseball America rankings — began this season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore and assistant general manager J.J. Picollo, who oversees player development, recently explained the decision to leave Witt in the minors despite an injury that has sidelined starting KC shortstop Adalberto Mondesi for more than a month, and why Witt began the year at Double-A.
“We just felt like it was the right thing to do with where Bobby is with his development as well,” Moore said. “When you transition players to the major leagues, there’s a lot of different opinions. There’s a lot of different suggestions about what we should do and shouldn’t do.”
Moore said the front office, scouts and player development staff leaned on the experience they’ve built up over decades in the industry and insight gained from numerous examples they’ve seen play out during that time.
They felt the best course of action for Witt’s future was to stick to the plan they’d laid out for him and not alter that plan because of Mondesi’s injury.
“When you’re dealing with young players, you want to be as sure as you can,” Moore said.
Witt impressed with his physical ability — including a jaw-dropping 484-foot home run during Cactus League play — as well as his aptitude and ability to make adjustments. He earned praise from veteran major-league teammates and manager Mike Matheny.
The fact that he’d been so early in his professional career when the pandemic interrupted MLB’s development pipeline left it an open question within the organization as to where he should begin this season.
“When it was all said and done, we just thought for him to be the most prepared, well-rounded player he could possibly be when he’s ready for the major leagues, let’s just start him at Double-A,” Picollo said. “Nothing can really go wrong with him starting at Double-A, minus injury.”
Picollo said he and the Royals’ player development staff weighed the difference between Triple-A and Double-A pitching, believing Triple-A offered more veteran, refined pitching but Witt would face more high-end, high-ceiling pitchers at Double-A.
Ultimately, they concluded Witt would benefit more from the experience of learning to develop and execute an approach at the plate, and having to adjust that plan on the fly as opponents change how they attack him at Double-A.
“Defensively, we really don’t have any concerns,” Picollo said. “He’s going to play short and third. He’s going to play both because we just feel the need to prepare him for whatever opportunity comes at the major leagues.”
Where are the top prospects?
Of the Royals’ Top 10 prospects, as rated by Baseball America, four began the season at Triple-A or have already appeared in MLB games this season.
Second-ranked Royals prospect and top pitching prospect Daniel Lynch debuted on Monday against the Cleveland Indians, pitcher Jackson Kowar (No. 4) was the opening day starter for Triple-A Omaha, pitcher Kris Bubic (No. 5) joined the big-league bullpen over the weekend and outfielder Kye Isbel (No. 6) started for the Royals on opening day before being optioned to the minors at the start of their most recent road trip.
Joining Witt at Double-A Northwest Arkansas are pitcher Jonathan Bowlan (No. 9) and first baseman Nick Pratto (No. 10).
Last year’s top two draft picks, left-handed pitcher Asa Lacy (No. 3) and shortstop Nick Loftin (No. 8), will begin the season at High-A Quad Cities.
The lone member of the Top 10 not on a roster to start the season is outfielder Erick Pena (No. 7). Pena will remain in extended spring training in Arizona before eventually joining the Low-A Columbia roster.
Picollo said that decision was made for philosophical reasons. He cited the unique development arc for Pena so far, having signed as an international free agent at 16, taking part in advanced camp last fall with the organization’s top prospects as a 17-year-old and then being in big-league camp this year at age 18.
Pena still hasn’t played in a minor-league game at any level.
The pitching puzzle
The biggest questions of this past offseason centered around how pitchers who didn’t have a season last year would safely increase their workloads to those required during a full-length season — whether they might face artificially reduced workloads, such as innings limits or having to be shut down early this year.
Picollo said the Royals don’t believe they’ll face the possibility of having to shut down their top pitching prospects or have them unavailable to help the major-league club, if needed, late in the season.
“I think the way we handled them in spring training has put them, at least on a track for now, that we’re not going to be overly concerned with it,” Picollo said. “But it’s something we’re always going to monitor. We’ve got to keep an eye on velocity dips, losing a bit of command, all the indicators that may be out there that somebody is fatigued.
“But the way they’ve been ramped up from the beginning of major-league camp, and then the way we’ve handled them through the month of April, doesn’t really make us feel like we need to be overly cautious.”
The pitchers who were in big-league camp will be ready to pitch five innings or more from the start of the minor-league season, while others at the lower levels of the minors will likely be stretched out to four innings each and utilize piggybacks/tandem starts through May.
Picollo said he thought the universal Monday off-day throughout the minors will help manage pitcher workloads.
Different look
With all MLB organizations limited to four full-season affiliates this season in the new structure — one each at Triple-A, Double-A, High-A and Low-A — their spring training complexes and Dominican academies may be used a bit differently. The number of minor-league players in each organization will be capped at 180.
The Royals planned to have 22-23 pitchers, approximately 10 outfielders, six infielders and six catchers (including two just getting back into game action after not having been fully healthy) at extended spring training in Arizona.
They will add more players from their Dominican academy as they get into the summer, with plans of fielding two Arizona-based teams out of their complex.
The organization’s player development staff will have the equivalent of two full minor-league coaching staffs, or eight coaches total, in Arizona, as well as one additional pitching coach and one additional hitting coach and non-uniform support staff in Arizona. The club’s minor-league coordinators and roving instructors will also rotate through regularly.
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Why the Kansas City Royals put Witt at Double-A + a look at their other minor-leaguers."
