Blake Mitchell made it sound like he plans to signal with the Royals quickly.

Within the Royals’ farm system, Mitchell will be a part of fellow catcher Carter Jensen as the subsequent wave of expertise at his place. He’s excited for the chance and is hoping to matriculate to the majors at an accelerated charge.

“I need to be on the quickest observe,” Mitchell mentioned. “I do know I can do this with the Royals. They love their homegrown gamers and I simply need to preserve succeeding within the minors. Hopefully, I can get there (the majors) in a few years.”

Anne Rogers talks to director of scouting Danny Ontiveros about Mitchell.

Mitchell should work on his bat-to-ball abilities as he faces more durable competitors, however he has uncooked energy to faucet into as he makes changes.

“He’s very calm on the plate, he doesn’t actually increase the zone,” Ontiveros mentioned. “He is aware of the strike zone. He took his walks this 12 months. He may have pressed; [there were] lots of people there eager to see him. He may have chased out of the zone, however he didn’t.

“He stole bases, discovered methods to assist his staff win. I feel it’s a testomony to his maturity degree.”

She additionally recaps the day two Royals picks.

Anne additionally talks to Royals gamers about what it’s wish to play for All-Star Salvador Perez.

David Lesky at Contained in the Crown reacts to day one of many draft.

My concern really has lots much less to do with him and extra who was obtainable and why they picked him. However nonetheless, I’m not solely certain that he’s going to have the ability to catch within the massive leagues and whereas many have famous that he completely has the arm for proper area, I don’t assume that’s fairly as straightforward as it could appear. MJ Melendez, a highschool catcher taken within the second spherical in 2017, is way extra athletic than Mitchell and he’s very clearly struggled with a transfer to the outfield.

Much like the highschool catcher profile, completely different gamers and all that, but it surely’s an instance of it’s not really easy to simply transfer a man. Now, if the Royals recognized the bat as so good that they didn’t care to attend for him to catch and moved him early, you by no means know. They did that with Wil Myers and it labored out okay.

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains reacts to Amir Garrett being designated for task.

Say what you’ll in regards to the Royals, however they’re not mind-numbingly silly. They’re not DFA’ing a reliever with a nifty ERA and a ten.4 SO/9 in the event that they hadn’t shopped him round beforehand and located no curiosity. Contenders want relievers. They don’t want relievers who throw first-pitch strikes 48 % of the time and have a 27 % CSW%.

That made him untradeable. It additionally means I’d be very stunned if he was claimed whereas he was on the waiver wire. I think about he’ll move by way of and should catch on with a random membership or as a depth possibility for a contending staff that can put him behind glass solely to be damaged in case of an emergency.

Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs provides his ideas on the Royals’ draft.

Mitchell (possible beneath slot) and Wolters (perhaps over) present a a lot wanted injection of upside into the Royals system, which is arguably the worst within the sport. Mitchell has a variety of work to do on protection, however he has uncommon energy for a catcher. Wolters is the most recent in a current run of extremely priced highschool arms in Kansas Metropolis. The Royals could have saved on Roccaforte to make their bonus pool math work.

R.J. Anderson at CBS Sports activities provides his draft grades.

Mitchell has a robust arm (he additionally pitched) and above-average energy potential from the left facet. We’re docking this decide not due to his means (or lack thereof), however as a result of historical past has not been form to first-round prep catchers. There hasn’t been one who 1) remained on the place and a pair of) accrued 10 or extra WAR since Joe Mauer — the No. 1 decide within the 2001 draft. Grade: C

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter writes about what to search for from Royals hitters within the second half.

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