TWitM: The “Big Three” find their groove, crush dingers

Cross, Mitchell, and Cags all go deep on the week.

This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?”

This Week in the Minors: Tuesday, August 13 to Sunday, August 18

AAA Omaha Storm Chasers (25-20, 4.5 GB, International League West, 1st half Division Champs)

The Storm Chasers maintained a record above .500 in the second half despite a week in which the offense was down. Tyler Gentry and Nick Pratto had quiet weeks, but Ryan Fitzgerald offered up seven hits to lead the team. He slashed .368/.429/.526. Cam Devanney, another offseason addition to the system, had six hits of his own including a double. Outfielder John Rave led the team in RBI with six. He had two doubles and two home runs on the week. That was good for a 1.015 OPS.

Drew Waters appeared in four games, posting just 13 at-bats but making the most of them. He finished the week with a 1.053 OPS including a double and a home run.

On the mound, lefty Noah Cameron was dominant once again. He made two starts on the week and allowed just one total run. He led the Chasers with 13 strikeouts across 12.2 innings of work. He walked four and held opposing hitters to a .159 average. Starter Dinelson Lamet has been impressive since joining the Royals system earlier this season. He’s posted elite whiff rates with his slider. In one start last week, Lamet went six scoreless innings, allowing just one walk and striking out five.

A handful of reliever options had scoreless weeks. Eric Cerantola (3.0IP), Alec Marsh (4.0IP), Steven Cruz (3.0 IP), Anthony Veneziano (4.0IP), Austin Cox (1.0IP), and Noah Murdock (1.0IP) all pitched without allowing a run last week. Cox and Murdock did so without allowing a baserunner. Cerantola didn’t walk a batter and held opponents to a .100 average.

AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals (23-21, 4.5 GB, Texas League North)

It was a down week for Steven Zobac. He allowed two runs across five innings of work in a win on Sunday (yes, that’s down by his recent standards). It was still a fantastic week overall. Zobac pitched to a 1.80 ERA on the week across two starts with 12 strikeouts in 10 IP. Ben Kudrna (6.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 3BB, 4 SO) and Tyson Guerrero (7.0IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB, 4 SO) each posted quality starts as well. Reliever Jacob Wallace made two relief appearances. He allowed one hit over three innings of work with four strikeouts.

Rehabbing reliever John Schreiber made two appearances as he works back toward Kansas City. Reliever Anthony Simonelli is down to a 2.21 ERA with the Naturals this season. He pitched a scoreless week and now has 69 strikeouts against 20 strikeouts on the season for Northwest Arkansas.

On offense, shortstop Tyler Tolbert and outfielder Javier Vaz led the way. Tolbert had a team-high nine hits, including two doubles. Vaz tied Tolbert with nine hits of his own. Four of those hits were doubles, and he walked five times against three strikeouts. Vaz slashed .500/.609/.722 with a 1.331 OPS on the week — all team-highs. Vaz has now put together an in-zone contact rate north of 90% this season. His Whiff rate ranks above the 90th percentile as well.

Outfielder Gavin Cross continued his recent power surge. He had three home runs on the week. He has 15 homers this season with 30 stolen bases. Catcher Carter Jensen added his fourth home run as a Natural despite an otherwise down week.

A+ Quad Cities River Bandits (25-23, 6.5 GB, Midwest League West)

Ethan Bosacker was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week after one of the best pitching performances of the season. He took a perfect game into the seventh inning. He finished the day with 12 strikeouts and zero walks, allowing two hits to finish off seven scoreless innings. Bosacker is an under-the-radar name but has been impressive all season long. He throws a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup. The changeup was dominant in his last start, offering outstanding arm-side fading action that hitters simply couldn’t square up.

Lefties Ryan Ramsey and Oscar Rayo were also fantastic in their starts. Ramsey allowed two hits without a walk across six scoreless innings. He struck out eight. Rayo also struck out eight batters in his start. He allowed one earned run across five innings of work, holding opponents to a .211 average.

Hunter Patteson has pitched more sparingly down the stretch. That’s likely an attempt to keep his arm fresh in what’s been his first full professional season due to injuries. He pitched three perfect innings in relief on the week. He struck out four.

Now looking at the hitters, it’s difficult to find anyone on more of a heater than Spencer Nivens. Nivens led the Bandits with nine hits. He hit a first-inning home run in three consecutive games last week, finishing his week with an impressive .769 slugging percentage. He suffered a hamstring injury early in the season that slowed his start. Since returning, it took him some time but he has really started to round into form of late.

2024- draftee Jac Caglianone started to find his footing. He had five hits, finishing his week with a .902 OPS and his second professional home run. The homer left the bat at 108 mph. Second baseman Justin Johnson had eight hits on the week. He slashed .348/.444/.522 with four doubles. Center fielder Carson Roccaforte wasn’t too far behind Nivens. He hit two home runs on the week. Roccaforte slugged .632 on the week with a team-high seven RBI.

A Columbia Fireflies (26-20, 3.0 GB, Carolina League South)

The Fireflies' offense received a handful of newcomers between undrafted free agents and 2024 draftees in recent weeks. Outfielder Carter Frederick has been perhaps the most impressive of that group so far. Last week, he slashed .313/.476/.438 with two doubles and five walks. He was a 20th-round pick by Kansas City out of Oklahoma after suffering an injury that shortened his NCAA season.

Callan Moss and Colten Becker had four hits apiece. Moss launched his first professional home run and Becker stole three bases. Catcher Blake Mitchell hit two home runs on the week to bring his season total to 17. With three more, he will reach 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases on the season. That would make Mitchell just the fourth Royals prospect since at least 2006 to post a 20/20 season in the minor leagues.

Outfielder Erick Torres led the team with eight hits. He’s found a power surge of late, slugging .565 on the week. He’s profiled for some time as a contact-oriented bat with excellent speed (not too different from Javier Vaz). If he can find ways to consistently hit for better power his ceiling will start to rise.

On the mound, Josh Hansell led the way with 12 strikeouts on the week. He compiled those across two outings, going seven innings in total. He did walk five in that span, as has been customary for him this season. Starter Felix Arronde put together a quality start. He allowed two runs to score across six innings of work. He struck out seven with only one walk. Jonatan Bernal was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week. He made one start, pitching seven scoreless innings. He worked around two hits and two walks while striking out six.

2023-draftee, Hiro Wyatt made a start, going three innings on Sunday. He’s coming close to his designated innings limit for the season so the Royals will likely continue to be conservative with his workload throughout the remainder of this season. He struck out five on Sunday and allowed one run to score without walking a batter. Logan Martin pitched five innings in a piggy-back outing. He didn’t allow a run to score, striking out four without a walk.