Evaluators still rank Royals farm system near bottom of baseball

Director of scouting Brian Bridges still has work to do.

The Royals farm system is making slow progress, but according to organizational rankings from evaluators this month, it still ranks near the bottom of baseball.

Baseball America, ESPN, and The Athletic all released farm system rankings, with the Royals finishing among the bottom ten teams in each ranking. Baseball America ranks the Royals #27, with only the Braves, Astros, and Angels ranked lower. The publication comments that the “farm system remains thin on potential regulars, especially when it comes to hitters.” The publication had two Royals in their top 100 prospect list, first baseman Jac Caglianone at #63 and catcher Blake Mitchell at #75. The Royals actually fell from their #25 ranking mid-season, but it's an improvement from a year ago when they were ranked dead last.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN also had two Royals in his top 100 prospect list - Caglianone at #29 and Mitchell at #42. He had three more Royals in his top 200 list with catcher Carter Jensen at #116, pitcher Ben Kudrna at #160, and pitcher David Shields at #170. But overall he ranks the system #22, up from #26 a year ago. While he praises Caglianone and Mitchell and notes a velocity spike for Shields, he writes that “beyond that, it’s mostly role players and high-variance types in this system.”

Keith Law at The Athletic also ranks the Royals #22, writing that it is a “big year for the Royals’ system, with a lot of guys who are entering make-or-break years.” He also praises Shields as a very polished high school arm and says the team has “a lot of arms you’d like to get who just haven’t put it all together yet.” He ranked the system #25 last year, although he liked the depth, and this year he indicates some optimism that the ranking will be higher next year.

The Royals hired Brian Bridges to oversee scouting in September of 2023 after he had run the Braves’ scouting department from 2015 to 2018. He has planted some seeds in the minors, but this will be a big year to see if his first draft class makes progress towards rebuilding the farm system.