2021-22 International Reviews: Kansas City Royals
Image credit: Juan Olmos
The Royals haven’t been afraid to spend heavily on one player in the right situation, something they did in 2019 when they signed Dominican outfielder Erick Peña. This year, the Royals spread their money around, bringing in a range of contact-oriented players throughout their new signings, with the top players in their group showing power upside as well.
Top Of The Class
Juan Olmos, the nephew of longtime Royals scout Rafael Miranda, was Kansas City’s top signing this year. The Colombian catcher is 6-foot-2, 175 pounds with a mix of size, athleticism, arm strength and power. It’s a strong tool set for a young catcher, with impressive power for a catcher that’s already showing up in games at the academy in the Dominican Republic. He’s an athletic mover behind the plate, still fine tuning his receiving but with a plus arm to control the running game, a good internal clock and high baseball IQ that’s no surprise given his upbringing around the game.
Names To Know
Henry Ramos, OF, Dominican Republic: Ramos has a 6-foot-1, 175-pound build that’s lean, wiry and projectable. He’s a fast-twitch athlete with solid-average speed and a quick first step that should enhance has probability of sticking in center field. Ramos has shown solid bat-to-ball skills with gap power that should tick up given the strength projection he has, with good overall game awareness and instincts for his age to pair with his athleticism.
Erick Torres, OF, Dominican Republic: Torres and Ramos trained together with former scout Sandy Nin, with Torres perhaps the most advanced pure hitter in their class. He has a stocky strong, 5-foot-10 frame and a swing that’s quick, compact and leads to frequent barrels in games with exit velocities starting to approach the 100 mph range. He’s a center fielder whose speed has improved to average, with a chance he slides over to a corner.
Ivan Sosa, SS, Dominican Republic: Sosa sticks out immediately for his long, lean build at 6-foot-3, 170 pounds with a ton of space to fill out. Power is already his best tool, with a chance to grow into plus raw power once he packs on more weight. It’s a power-over-hit profile, with the leverage in his swing to drive the ball in the air for damage when he connects. A fringe-average runner, Sosa has the ball skills at shortstop to potentially stay there, though with the way he’s built he might end up outgrowing the position and shifting over to third base.
Sleeper Watch
The Royals signed Manuel German, a cousin of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. German worked out at third base as an amateur but is a physical first baseman who stands out for his strength and raw power coming from a big baseball family.
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