TWitM: Mitchell mashes, Squires slugs

Plus, what moves might be on the way for Kansas City?

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?”

Much of the talk about the Royals of late centers around their recent skid in the standings and lack of moves. The Royals are now four games back of Cleveland for first place and 4-6 in their last ten games. At the same time, Cleveland and Minnesota have gone 7-3 to make the American League Central a tight race. The Royals also relinquished the first Wild Card spot to the Baltimore Orioles, but maintain a two-game lead on the second wild card slot, ahead of Minnesota. On Tuesday, the Royals kick off perhaps the most crucial series to date this season. They’ll kick off a three-game series against Cleveland.

With a slight skid now in progress, many have wondered one thing: where are the moves? The Royals outfield continues to struggle, although Nelson Velázquez and Hunter Renfroe have started to turn things around of late. MJ Melendez remains stuck in his rut and Kyle Isbel hasn’t been much better offensively. Meanwhile, the Omaha Storm Chasers are the hottest team in the entire minor leagues. They went 25-5 in May. The pitchers are pitching well, and the hitters are tearing the cover off the baseball. The time is fast approaching to make some moves, and a handful of those may very well happen on Tuesday. However, it may not be the ones you’re most expecting.

Drew Waters has slumped of late and isn’t quite on the scorching hot streak he was three weeks ago. Over the last two series, Waters is slashing .128/.217/.231 with a 34.7% strikeout rate. That comes heavily in the friendly confines of Werner Park — a very offensively friendly ballpark. None of the outfielders in Omaha strike a ton of confidence and the only one performing strongly of late is John Rave, who isn’t on the 40-man roster. Instead, the move the Royals need to make is a more long-term facing one.

Gavin Cross has essentially erased his strikeout rate over the last three series. Dating back to May 14, it’s down at 17.8%. The time has come for the Royals to find room for Cross in Omaha in case they need him for a stretch run later this season. No other outfielder in the farm system has a higher ceiling and more big-league staying power than Cross. The more urgent moves for the big league club are in the bullpen.

Walter Pennington was the International League Pitcher of the Week last week and has more than earned his place in Kansas City. His place on the 40-man roster could easily be found by designating Jake Brentz for assignment. The recent cold streak for Kansas City has been fueled more by bullpen blowups than struggling outfielders. The Royals need to urgently find more effective arms to fill their bullpen and otherwise need to keep shuffling up the prospects through the farm system so that they can be ready later this season if the need still exists.

This Week in the Minors: Tuesday, May 28 to Sunday, June 2

AAA Omaha Storm Chasers (39-16, 1st Place, International League West)

Omaha is the hottest team in the entire minor leagues and continued that hot streak with a 6-1 week. John Rave led the offense last week with a team-leading eight hits. He slashed .381/.519/.714 with a double, two home runs, and four RBI. Catcher Logan Porter continued doing Logan Porter things as well. His 1.295 OPS was the best among Storm Chasers hitters and he brought in a team-high seven RBI. First baseman CJ Alexander remained strong at the plate. He slashed .333/.364/.524 on the week. He’s been among the most consistent hitters all season for Omaha and has continued that even past a brief stint on the injured list.

Lefty Kris Bubic continued his rehab assignment now in Omaha. He made one appearance thus far, going 3.2 IP without allowing a run. He struck out seven with only one walk. The entire Omaha rotation was strong on the week. Anthony Veneziano went five innings without allowing an earned run. Jonathan Bowlan paced all Omaha pitchers in strikeouts with eight in his lone start. He didn’t walk a batter and allowed just one run over six full innings. Finally, Chandler Champlain allowed two runs over five innings of work with six strikeouts and just one walk.

As mentioned before, the best arm of the week was clearly Walter Pennington. He allowed one hit and no walks over 4.2 innings of work. He struck out seven en route to the winning league honors.

AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals (22-28, 7.5 GB, Texas League North)

The Naturals continued to struggle, finishing 2-5 on the week. The offense struggled, with only two hitters finishing above .300 on the week. Josh Lester slashed .391/.400/.609 with two doubles and a home run. He did his best to carry the offense with seven RBI, and even pitched a scoreless outing on the week following William Fleming’s difficult outing. Rodolfo Durán had four hits of his own in just three games played. Outfielder Gavin Cross hit just .200 in a short week but had a healthy 1.029 OPS. He struck out just once while walking four times.

Natural starters were fairly solid on the week, including Noah Cameron who returned from the injured list this week. He didn’t allow a run over three full innings as he eased back into things. Tyson Guerrero set a career-high with ten strikeouts in his start. He walked two and allowed two runs, but was otherwise very sharp in five innings. Anthony Simonelli earned a trip to Omaha following a healthy week. He’s been sharp all season and continued that with two scoreless outings last week. Beck Way didn’t allow a hit or run over his two innings of work.

A+ Quad Cities River Bandits (23-28, 9.0 GB, Midwest League West)

The River Bandits went 2-4 last week but had plenty of outstanding showings regardless. Brett Squires led the team with nine hits. He slashed .375/.423/.583 on the week and continues to make a strong case for a midseason trip to Springdale. Kale Emshoff had a team-high 7 RBI, thanks mostly to three home runs and a gaudy .828 slugging percentage. 2023 draftee, Dustin Dickerson slashed .333/.529/.500 with two doubles and a stolen base. Catcher Carter Jensen had a “quiet” week by his 2024 standards but still finished with eight hits. He slashed .333/.370/.500 with just one strikeout over six games.

River Bandits pitchers had a rough week, evidenced no better than by Ben Kudrna. The 21-year-old right-hander allowed seven earned runs in his lone start. Steven Zobac allowed six in his, and Frank Mozzicato allowed seven, but only three were earned runs. In better news, Henry Williams pitched six scoreless innings while striking out six. Shane Panzini pitched four scoreless innings in his piggyback outing. It was a bounce-back for him after a couple of rough showings, but he allowed just one hit and struck out six.

A Columbia Fireflies (24-25, 6.5 GB, Carolina League South)

Columbia finished 1-5 on the week, falling below .500 on the season. The offense was led by Derlin Figueroa and Blake Mitchell. Each had six hits, tying for the team lead. Mitchell slashed .353/.421/.706 with his first multi-home run game of his young career. All but one of Figueroa’s hits were singles, but his one extra-base hit was his seventh home run of the year.

First Baseman Chris Brito has been solid all season so far. He had five hits and a double on the week, giving him an .851 OPS for the year. It’s his first season in affiliate pro ball after spending parts of 2023 playing in the independent Atlantic League. He’s slashed .283/.426/.424 in 2024 but probably needs a stiffer challenge after spending five seasons at Rutgers.

Hunter Patteson led the Fireflies with seven strikeouts. He allowed three earned runs over six innings in his start and continues to impress since returning from last season’s injury. Blake Wolters pitched just three innings in his start, walking two. He struck out four in the process but continues to look like a work in progress. That’s to be expected from such a young, raw prospect. Jarold Rosado, Chase Isbell, and Josh Hansell were all strong in relief on the week. All three had scoreless weeks, but Rosado was especially impressive. He went 1.2 innings in his lone outing and finished the day with five strikeouts.

This home run by Blake Mitchell went 475 feet.