Royals’ Cayden Wallace Ready For Next Steps To Third Base In KC

The Royals traded Mike Moustakas at the 2018 trade deadline. In the four full seasons since, the third base position has been a revolving door of players in Kansas City.

The Royals think 2022 second-rounder Cayden Wallace has a chance to be the answer at the hot corner.

“He has the talent, the makeup, the work ethic and the skill set to stay at third base,” said Royals farm director and field coordinator Mitch Maier. “There’s a reason we selected him where we did.”

Drafted out of Arkansas, Wallace spent most of his pro debut last season with Low-A Columbia, batting .294/.369/.468 with two home runs in 27 games.

The 21-year-old comes to the pro game with five average or better tools, the most notable being his plus-plus arm. Wallace projects to hit for average and power and already has an ability to use all fields.

That skill is something he learned very early in youth baseball.

“It was all oppo from the beginning,” Wallace said. “. . . I do feel that one of my strong points is I can work to all fields, and I’m going to continue to work on that.”

Maier has seen a lot of good attributes in Wallace’s approach.

“He’s multi-dimensional in what he can do,” Maier said. “. . . He’ll use the entire field, hit the ball where it’s pitched, has a good understanding of the zone. And that’s going to allow him to hit for average.”

Wallace already had a good idea of the Royals’ philosophy and what they expect from their players, both on and off the field, from conversations with Arkansas teammate Robert Moore, son of former Kansas City president of baseball operations Dayton Moore.

“I’d heard such good things about (the Royals),” Wallace said. “Just to be in it, to experience it now . . . it’s exactly what I’ve heard.”

ROYALTIES

— Ten of the Royals’ Top 30 Prospects are part of the big league spring training roster, including seven players from the 40-man roster. The list includes outfielders Drew Waters and Diego Hernandez, shortstop Maikel Garcia, and pitchers Angel Zerpa, Jonathan Bowlan, Maximo Castillo and Jackson Kowar. Non-roster invitees include catcher Luca Tresh and outfielders Nick Loftin and Tyler Gentry.